Hyderabad: A 21-year-old college student was arrested for sexual assault three days after a schoolgirl died by suicide in Chennai, leaving a letter that claimed, “a girl is safe only in the mother’s womb or the grave.”
The mother of the Class 11 student saw her hanging in their home on the outskirts of Chennai on Saturday, according to an NDTV report. The mother had barely been gone for one hour. When she returned from the store, she found the teen’s room was locked.
According to the police, the young man admitted that he and the girl were in a close relationship and that he had harassed her. The stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act has been used to prosecute him.
According to NDTV, a police official investigating the matter said, “The minor girl has admitted to having a physical relationship with the boy. He had been pestering and abusing her for the last two weeks. We discovered filthy text communications and picture exchanges. Before all of this, they had a decent, amicable relationship for eight months.”
The girl was in Class 8 three years ago, while the boy was in Class 11 at the same school. She then transferred to a girls’ school, but the two became friends on Instagram, according to investigators. The girl in a suicide note implied that school was unsafe and that instructors could not be trusted. She said that she couldn’t concentrate or sleep because she was subjected to “mental agony even in her dreams.”
“Every parent should educate their boys and kids to respect girls,” she added. Based on the girl’s suicide note, investigators are looking into whether she was harassed by others.
The note, which said “Stop Sexual Harassment” and ended with “Justice for Me,” listed three potential harassers: “relatives, teachers, and everyone.”