Medical student from Kerala killed in Uzbekistan; family alleges forced conversion bid
Sawariya Basanth’s body was flown to Kerala, where a second postmortem was conducted on the family’s complaint. Photograph: (X)
Sawariya died after Sadarul allegedly struck her on the head during an argument in Uzbekistan. Her family has alleged that the attack was far more brutal than reported. Savariya’s uncle Janeesh said an investigating officer in Uzbekistan told him that she had injuries all over her body.
A 21-year-old medical student from Kerala was killed in Uzbekistan allegedly by her classmate, who is also from the state. The victim’s family has alleged in a police complaint filed in Kerala that she was being forced into religious conversion.
The victim, identified as Sawariya Basanth, 21, a native of Harippad in Alappuzha district, was a first-year medical student at Bukhara State Medical Institute in Uzbekistan.
The accused, Sadarul Anam, 22, hails from Pulamanthol in Malappuram district. He was arrested following the incident.
Body flown to Kerala, second postmortem conducted
Sawariya’s body was flown to Kerala, where a second postmortem was conducted on Thursday following a complaint from her family. The Harippad Police also registered a murder case based on a complaint filed by Sawariya’s father, Basanth, who is employed in Kuwait.
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Harippad SHO V Vishnu said, “We have registered a case under section 103 (murder) of BNS. We are yet to get official details of the crime from law enforcement agencies in Uzbekistan. The postmortem conducted in Alappuzha medical college has prima facie indications of physical assault. We will examine the legal standing of the case registered in Kerala for the crime recorded in Uzbekistan.”
Sadarul had been forcing Sawariya to convert, says uncle
Basanth’s relative Janeesh told mediapersons that the accused Sadarul had been “forcing Sawariya to convert”.
“Her classmates had informed us that she was physically assaulted many times. He had been forcing her to get converted, but she resisted it. Her friends are privy to these incidents,” Janeesh said.
Sawariya died after Sadarul allegedly assaulted her and struck her on the head during a heated argument in Uzbekistan, causing her death. Her family has alleged that the attack was far more brutal than initially reported.
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He said the investigating officer also told him that some students had informed investigators that the accused had allegedly been pressuring Savariya to convert before the incident.
“She [Investigating officer] also said that in her investigation, some of the students told her that the accused pressured her for religious conversion, and some students even saw that. But Savariya did not agree... This was also communicated to the embassy officer who came there,” he said.
‘There were injury marks from head to toe on her body’
Janeesh, Savariya’s uncle, said an investigating officer in Uzbekistan told him that the victim had injuries all over her body, suggesting she had been subjected to a prolonged assault.
“There were injury marks from head to toe on her body. It was not like he killed her in one minute with a laptop. The investigating officer told me it was done brutally,” Janeesh said.
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Police registered a murder case based on the family’s complaint. A second post-mortem examination was conducted at the local hospital.
The family is demanding that the investigation be carried out in Kerala and that the accused be extradited from Uzbekistan to face legal proceedings in India.
