AHMEDABAD, INDIA, August 10, 2001: Coming on the heels of a young couple being publicly hanged in Uttar Pradesh over caste differences, a young girl Bharti Barot, 19, committed suicide in the Hindu Mahasabha office here following pressure from one of its activists, Dasrath Soni, to desert her husband and reconvert to Hinduism. Bharti and Salim were married in a mosque after she converted to Islam. Though the marriage was duly registered, Bharti’s parents refused to give up and lodged a complaint with the police. When separated from her husband, Bharti set herself afire. Ahmedabad police have registered a case of accidental death. But Police Commissioner P.C. Pande said a case of abetment to suicide against the Hindu Mahasabha activist couldn’t be ruled out.
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