Suicide after theft charge

TT, Jalpaiguri, Oct. 31: A schoolgirl who had allegedly stolen a cellphone, been taunted in a salishi and in her village, committed suicide on Saturday night.

Her father, who said the girl was wrongly accused as a thief, has filed a police complaint against a Trinamul deputy pradhan and six other villagers, accusing them of driving the girl to take her life.

On Sunday morning, the Class XI girl was found hanging from a tree in a bamboo grove near her home.

The girl's uncle Suleman Sheikh said she had gone with a friend to a house where a person had died. "Twenty-two days ago, she and a friend, had gone to the house of Salimuddin Miya who had died. There she picked up a mobile phone. She gave the phone to her friend who returned the handset to Miya's family about 10 days ago. But since then my niece was being taunted and called a thief while on her way to and back from school. We informed our panchayat member about the repeated abuse," Sheikh said.

Israel Hossain, the deputy pradhan of the panchayat, called a meeting at the girl's house on Saturday night. "There, all those present declared my niece a thief. They also verbally abused her. She left home around 9pm on Saturday and never returned. On Sunday, she was found hanging in the bamboo grove," the uncle said.

The father, a farmer and supplier of construction materials, said he was not at home during the Saturday gathering. "My daughter was wrongly accused of being a thief and driven to suicide. I demand the police arrest and punish the guilty," he said.

Jalpaiguri police chief Amitava Maity said: "We have started cases against the accused under Section 306 (abetment to suicide). No arrests have been made as yet."