Dead Malayali vlogger Rifa Mehnu's husband in police custody under POCSO Act

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 04, 2022, IANS

The Kozhikode Police on Thursday took into custody Mehnaz, husband of Kerala vlogger Rifa Mehnu who died by suicide, for marrying Mehnu when she was a minor.

Mehnaz, under the legal scanner for the 'suicide' of his young wife, has been booked under the POCSO Act. Police are contemplating action against his parents and others who were instrumental in the early marriage.

Rifa and Mehnaz met on social media and were married for the past three years.

The vlogger was found dead on March 1 in Dubai, where she lived with her husband Mehnaz and their two-year-old son.

Later, the body was brought from there and buried in the cemetery at a Kozhikode mosque.

However, Rifa's parents registered a complaint over their daughter's mysterious death after which the local police in Kasargod booked her husband.

On May 12, her body was exhumed and subjected to a scientific examination.

Meanwhile, through a high court order Mehnaz got his arrest in the case charged under Sections of abetment of suicide, stayed.

While he managed to stay away from arrest through the court, the present case has been registered under the POCSO Act.

The 21-year-old Rifa, a social media activist with lakhs of followers on Instagram, appeared regularly on the photo-sharing app along with her husband.

In Rifa's last video posted a day before her body was found, she along with her husband was at a Dubai restaurant.