Physically challenged girl attempts to kill self after being branded thief

A physically-challenged girl student of Class IX from Krishnagar Queens' Girls High School in Nadia attempted suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan inside her house on Monday night as some of her classmates beat her up after branding her as a mobile thief.

The victim has been fighting for life at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Shaktinagar Hospital at Krishnagar with some serious injuries. The family members of the 13-year-old victim told the police that she failed to bear the humiliation after she was branded as a mobile thief by some other classmates.

The family members of the victim lodged complaint against five girls who allegedly beat her up after accusing her as a thief. All the accused are classmates of the victim girl. On the basis of the complaint, police arrested three minor girls who were sent to a government home on Tuesday.

Police said that the victim attended computer class in the school on Monday. Some of her fellow students accused her of lifting a mobile phone from one of the students. This had occurred when there was no teacher in the class. The victim girl told them that she did not take anyone's mobile phone. The incident settled there when the teacher came back to the class.

However, when the girl was leaving school, some of the fellow students stopped her way and forced her to open her school bag. The accused girls snatched her bag and opened it. They got a mobile phone from the bag but there was no SIM card in it. After the incident, the accused girls started beating her up. She was later freed from the clutches of the accused due to the intervention of some other students of the school.

The victim returned home utterly distressed and with a broken heart. She did not inform the matter to her family members who inquired her after she looked traumatised.

Despite the repeated questions, the victim did not tell her family members about the incident. Later in the evening, her family members found that her room was locked from outside. Sensing that something wrong must have happened to the girl, the family members broke open the door to find that the victim was attempting suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling. She was rushed to the Shaktinagar Hospital where she is currently undergoing treatment.

Police have started a detailed probe in connection with the incident. Three girls who have been arrested in this connection were taken to a government home as they are minors.