14yearold who claimed personnel raped her commits suicide in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: A 14-year-old tribal girl, who had charged “four men in uniform” with rape three months ago in Odisha’s Koraput, allegedly committed suicide on Monday, police said.

The Class 9 student allegedly hanged herself when her family members were not at home. She was later rushed to a local community health centre in an unconscious state, they said.

“She was declared ‘received dead’ at the health centre by the doctors,” Sunabeda sub-divisional police officer Narahari Nayak said.

“She took the extreme step out of frustration at not getting justice,” a relative of the girl told a local TV news channel.

The girl earlier too attempted suicide by consuming excess of iron pills and had to be hospitalised in Cuttack, the relative said.

The girl had on October 10 last year alleged that she was raped by “four men in uniform” at Kunduli while she was returning to her home in a village of the Maoist-hit Koraput district.

However, the police’s Human Rights Protection Cell had in its report to the state rights panel claimed the girl was not raped. But she had stuck to her claim.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik expressed grief over the girl’s death. “On hearing the tragic incidence of the suicide of the alleged Kunduli rape victim, CM Naveen Patnaik expresses deep grief and conveys his deep sympathy to the bereaved family,” a communication from the chief minister’s office said.