Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): A minor girl who set herself afire allegedly having been harassed by stalkers in Jabalpur district has demanded through a video that the accused be hanged while her father has alleged police had shooed away her when she approached the police station for help against the accused, as per the dying declaration and victim’s father’s statement.
The girl,16, a resident of Ranjhi area in Jabalpur, set herself ablaze and suffered 90% burns on Tuesday after she was allegedly shooed away by the police station.
The video clip came to light on Wednesday going viral on social media hours after the girl succumbed to her injuries at the teaching hospital of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, Jabalpur in the wee hours of Wednesday. It is yet to be known as to who shot the video.
In the video, the girl, who was a class-11 student at a government school, has mentioned the names of the accused and demanded capital punishment. “They should be hanged,” the girl is heard saying in the video in a trembling and choked voice.
The suicide note that was recovered from spot revealed that the girl was being stalked and sexually harassed by a group of youths including three women. A blackmail angle too has come to light.
Girl’s father, who is an auto-rickshaw driver, told the Free Press that the accused who lived in the neighbourhood were blackmailing his daughter.
“They had put a knife at my daughter and captured an obscene photograph. They were blackmailing her. They had taken money from her at times. Around two months ago, I lodged a complaint at the police station but no action was taken,” he added.
He also claimed that his daughter visited Ranjhi police station but she was shooed away by police personnel.
“She went to the police station on Tuesday itself. She was made to sit there for three hours, but her complaint was not listened to. She was shooed away from there,” he claimed.
Home minister Narottam Mishra told journalists in Bhopal on Wednesday that police had detained the accused.
“It is true that she visited the police station but not for lodging sexual harassment case. She went to the police station to settle an ST/SC case registered against her father. I have instructed the police to conduct a probe weighing all aspects,” Mishra said.
Additional Superintendent of Police (SP), Sanjay Agrawal said that a case against the girl's father was registered in September, this year. “As per preliminary investigation, the girl and the youth had friendship but her father was unhappy with friendship. Therefore, he had beaten up the youth. When she came to police on Tuesday, she said that she wanted to settle the case registered against her father. Police officials informed her that the case was under consideration in the court,” he said.
He added that all six accused have been arrested and are being interrogated.
(With input from Shiv Choubey)
