Jiah Khan's mother vows to 'fight for justice'

Editor's note: Sooraj Pancholi was acquitted of all charges by a special CBI court on April 28, 2023, for lack of evidence. The events below are reported as they unfolded in 2013.

Jiah Khan's six-page letter — found by her family about three days after her death on June 3, 2013 — described physical and emotional abuse and said she had been forced to have an abortion against her will. (Enstarz)

On June 10, Mumbai police arrested her boyfriend Sooraj Pancholi, 22, on suspicion of abetting her suicide, registering an FIR under IPC section 306 on the basis of her mother Rabiya Khan's statement. He was remanded in police custody till June 13. (Christian Post, Masala)

The letter's claims about the abortion raised an open question police were still investigating at the time — whether the aborted child was Pancholi's. That question, like the paternity the letter implied, was never established as fact.

The film industry is a hard place for young women. As writer Shobhaa De wrote on her blog at the time, only those survive who have a godfather or are made of nerves of steel. De blamed Sooraj Pancholi for Jiah's fate — "like father, like son."

Aditya Pancholi hit back. "What's Shobhaa De's problem with me and my son? What does she mean by saying, 'Like father, like son?' Let the truth come out. If Sooraj has done some wrong, let it come out. But don't condemn him in your column for something he hasn't done," the hurt father said.

Visiting her daughter's grave, Rabiya Khan vowed to "fight for justice." (Classicalite/Reuters)

Nearly a decade later, that fight ended in a courtroom: on April 28, 2023, a special CBI court cleared Sooraj Pancholi of all charges in Jiah Khan's death case, citing lack of evidence. (Boldsky)