Heinous crimes against women continue unabated
Hamirpur/Meerut: Hundreds of crimes against women are reported every month in Uttar Pradesh with the state accounting for 59,853 such instances — 14 per cent of the national total — in 2019 according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau data.
Adding to the agony, on Saturday, a 15-year-old girl who had set herself ablaze in a village under Sumerpur police station area after allegedly being molested by a boy, succumbed to her injuries in a Kanpur hospital.
The girl had been rushed to the hospital for specialised treatment as she had received severe burn injuries on Tuesday, the police said.
Hamirpur Superintendent of Police Narendra Kumar Singh said the class IX student had set herself on fire on Tuesday over repeated harassment and molestation by a 16-year-old boy.
On the complaint of the victim's family, a case was registered against the minor boy, who was held on Thursday and produced before a juvenile court which sent him to a juvenile home, the SP said.
Following the girl's death, an additional section of murder would be included in the case against him, the SP said.
The girl's family had earlier alleged that the boy often used to tease and harass her and had done the same on Monday. They had also accused the police of letting the boy go only after warning him.
Disturbed by repeated harassments and molestation, the girl had sprinkled kerosene on herself around 8 am on Tuesday and set herself ablaze, her family members said.
In another incident in Meerut, a class 10 student committed suicide after she was allegedly abducted and gang-raped while on her way back from a tuition class, police said on Friday.
Meerut's Rural Superintendent of Police Keshav Kumar said four youths were involved in abducting and raping the girl and the police, based on a suicide note left by the girl, have arrested two of the accused and have launched a manhunt to nab two others.
Another incident took place in Suryapuram area under Brahmpuri police station in Meerut when the victim was returning home after performing puja.
Some miscreants standing on the streets eve-teased her, tore her clothes and verbally abused her when she resisted the harassment, according to a report. Police have now filed a case and initiated a probe.
