A 15-year-old Class 10 student hanged herself to death at her house in a village of Kotwali Sadar Bazar area of Saharanpur district on Wednesday night after she was allegedly molested by her classmate’s maternal uncle, said police. They said that in the suicide note recovered from the house she had held her classmate’s uncle responsible for her death.
The accused, Dharamveer, 31, was arrested on Friday night.
Sub-inspector (S-I) Sohanveer Singh, who is investigating the case, said, “We have booked the accused under sections 306 (abetment to suicide), 354A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. An FIR was registered at the Kotwali Sadar Bazar police station on Thursday.”
“The victim’s post-mortem examination has been conducted and the report did not confirm rape,” he added.
Singh said the case was registered a day after the incident as initially, villagers and acquaintances of the victim’s family had mounted pressure on them to not involve the police in the matter and ‘settle the issue within the community’. “Later, S-I Manoj Kumar lodged the FIR after visiting the village,” he said.
Singh said the victim referred to the accused as ‘mama’ and he was her classmate’s maternal uncle.
{{/usCountry}}Singh said the victim referred to the accused as ‘mama’ and he was her classmate’s maternal uncle.
{{/usCountry}}“Dharamveer lived in a house adjacent to the girl’s. The victim’s father is a fruit vendor,” he said.
According to the S-I, in the suicide note recovered from the girl’s house, she held Dharamveer’s “misdeeds” responsible for her taking the extreme step.