17-year-old commits suicide after alleged sexual harassment

A 17-year-old girl allegedly committed suicide after being repeatedly sexually harassed, police said.

The girl, a resident of Chhijarsi village of Phase 3 area of Noida, was found hanging at her home on Friday evening. She was a student of Class 12 at a government school in Ghaziabad.

The girl allegedly committed suicide after complaining of sexual harassment from three local men in her area. (Ht Photo)

“Parents of the deceased had gone out of the house on Friday. When they returned, they found her hanging from the ceiling fan. She was rushed to the hospital where she was declared dead on arrival,” said a senior police official.

Two days ago, the girl had complained against three men, identified as Shivam, Raja and Rahul, for stalking and sexually harassing her. She told her parents they had been doing this for the past month.

“We had registered a case against the accused persons and raided their residence but they were found absconding. Raids were conducted at their relatives’ and neighbours’ places as well but they were not found in the area,” the police official said.

The girl’s family said police inaction had led to the incident.

“Two days back she had wrote a suicide note which we found and informed the police. But the police failed to arrest any of the eve teasers,” said a relative of the girl.

However, police said the men who had harassed the girl had left the area following several police raids. A case of abetment of suicide was lodged against the three men at the Phase 3 police station.

“Our teams are searching for the accused. They will be arrested soon,” the police official added.