Men harass me everywhere I go, 17yearold says in suicide note
LIFE CUT SHORT Victim’s family say they had confronted the accused man’s family but were rebuked
NEW DELHI: For more than a year, the 17-year-old girl from an impoverished family in outer Delhi’s Alipur had been waking up early and going out for fourkilometre run every morning.
She aspired to become a policewoman and was training hard for it, her parents said, a day after their daughter killed herself inside their tiny rented home in Bakhtawarpur village.
The victim’s parents alleged that the girl was driven to suicide after she was sexually harassed by a 21-year-old man in the neighbourhood during one of her early morning training sessions.
In a handwritten suicide note she left behind, she said “Whichever way I go, I find men (who harass me). They are spoiling my life so that I cannot do anything (in life)...because of me you are having to vacate your home, but that won’t happen if I don’t live,” a part of her suicide note read.
“My daughter was well-built and I knew she was destined to join the police force. I often used to think about her, imagine how she would look like in the khaki uniform,” her distraught mother said.
Her parents said they did their bit to support her dreams. “Many people love their sons. But we gave priority to our daughter over both our sons. Every morning, I would give her Rs 50 to buy milk so that she would grow up strong,” said her mother.
On Tuesday, the girl had for the first time informed her parents that a neighbour was allegedly stalking and harassing her while she trained every morning. “He had told her he was undergoing police training and introduced himself as her senior. But he would touch her wrongly and had even proposed marriage, something she objected to,” alleged her mother. Hindustan Times is withholding the name of the accused to protect the identity of the victim.
This was not the first time that the girl had allegedly faced sexual harassment. A year ago, the parents had approached the police against another local man who was allegedly stalking their daughter.
When the girl’s parents brought up the issue with the parents of the accused man on Tuesday, they were allegedly rebuked, abused and told to vacate their rental home— charges that were denied by the suspect’s mother and the landowner.
The accused’s mother said he was pursuing graduation in life sciences and aspired to join the police. “I know my son. He had nothing to do with the girl. He is being framed,” she said.
After the confrontation, the girl was stopped from going out for her daily physical training by her parents. “I only permitted her to attend computer classes. I was afraid her reputation would be tarnished and she wouldn’t find a suitable match later,” her father said. The girl’s mother said the child was also overcome with guilt that she was the reason for which her parents were being forced to vacate their home.
The girl allegedly hanged herself at her house on Friday morning while her parents were ot around. When her mother heard of it, she rushed home to save her daughter.
“I tried administering CPR to her, but she just wouldn’t move,” said her mother.
A case of abetment to suicide and that under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has been registered and efforts on to nab the accused, said Rajneesh Gupta, deputy commissioner of police (Rohini).