Three minor girls held for abetting suicide bid

KOLKATA: Three class IX students -- all of them girls of 15 -- were arrested on Monday in Krishnagar of Bengal’s Nadia district on charges of abetting suicide attempt by a classmate. Police have slapped abetment of suicide charges against them.

According to a complaint lodged with the police, they blamed their classmate of stealing two cellphones in school.

Shamed by her classmates, she tried to end her life by hanging herself with a dupatta. The victim is physically challenged and is reared by foster parents who are her aunt and uncle. Police slapped IPC sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 306 (abetment of suicide) on the three accused. The girl is now admitted in an intensive care unit of Shaktinagar district hospital. The family members of the girl lodged a complaint with the women’s police station in Krishnagar accusing three classmates of persecuting their daughter. On Monday, police took the three into custody and sent them to a welfare home. According to locals, on March 24, two cellphone handsets went missing inside the class. They were later found from the bag of the victim. “While the accused claimed that the two handsets were found from the victim’s bag, she said that someone put it inside, and she did not have any role in it,” said Ranumita Roy, the inspector-in-charge of the Krishnagar Women’s police station.