‘Molested’ by BSF jawan, 12-year-old commits suicide in South Dinajpur

A 12-year-old girl committed suicide after allegedly being molested by a BSF jawan at Hili in South Dinajpur on Sunday, police said.  The incident had triggered tension in the area while local residents staged demonstration demanding the arrest of the accused. 

Police said the victim was returning home from private tuition on Saturday when the accused BSF jawan stationed at an outpost stopped her at Gosaipur area. 

In pretext of conducting a search the accused had allegedly molested the girl. When the victim had protested against the incident the accused had made her stand there for quite some time. 

When the victim’s family members found that she was not returning from the private tuition they started looking for her in the nearby areas. The victim’s mother finally found her at the outpost. 

The girl was on tears and narrated the whole incident to her mother. When the jawan was asked as why he had indulged in such immoral activities, he had behaved rudely and an altercation broke out between the accused and the victim’s mother. 

The girl, a student of class VII from a nearby village school, could not bear the humiliation and decided to end her life.  At around 12.30 pm she closed the door of a room and committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling. 

As the victim did not open the door despite repeated knocks, the family members broke the door only to find the girl in an unconscious state. 

They took her to Balurghat district hospital where the victim had later died on Saturday evening. 

The incident had sparked anger among the villagers who had conducted a search for the accused who has been absconding since the incident had taken place. Villagers have demanded stringent punishment for the accused. 

On the basis of the complaint lodged by the victim’s family members the police have started an investigation into the incident. Police are conducting search operation to arrest the accused. Senior BSF officials, however, denied the charges of molestation.