Harassment victim succumbs to burns

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, August 11

A 16-yr-old Dalit girl, who had set herself on fire on August 5 at Kalbanjara village near Lehragaga, today died at the PGI, Chandigarh.

She was allegedly being sexually harassed by a youth from Khandewad village. Pushpinder Singh, SHO, Lehragaga, said the accused, Mani, was arrested today. He said on the statement of the victim, they had registered a case against Mani under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage a woman’s modesty), 354-D, 306 (abetment to suicide) and 511 of the IPC and Section 4 of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

The SHO said in her statement to the magistrate yesterday, the girl had held Mani responsible for her suicide attempt. The girl had stated that Mani had been stalking and harassing her for the past many days. He had even slapped her and abused her brother following which she set herself on fire. She was a student of Class X at Government Girls School at Lehragaga. The post-mortem examination on the girl’s body was conducted at the PGI today. Her body was later handed over to her family.

On August 6, the girl’s parents had told the police that their daughter sustained burns while cooking food. Tarsem Singh, sarpanch, Kalbanjara village, said the village would fight for justice to the bereaved family.

Bhattal expresses grief

Sangrur: Former CM and Congress MLA from Lehragaga Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (pic) on Tuesday expressed grief over the death of a 16-year-old Dalit girl from Kalbanjara village that falls in her constituency. She termed the incident shocking as the victim had to set herself afire after being constantly harassed by some youths. She flayed the district police for the delay in registering a case. She said the government should take action against SSPs of the districts where the police did not act on time in cases of crime against women. — TNS