School girl commits suicide after sexual harassment

Subjected to regular sexual harassment by a some local youths and following an altercation with her father on the issue, a 13-year-old-school girl committed suicide by immolating herself in West Bengal's Burdwan district, police said Tuesday.

Four people have been arrested in this connection. "Ujjawala Prasad, 13, had set herself on fire last night and she succumbed to injuries Tuesday morning. Her father has lodged a complaint against nine persons who had been harassing the girl for the past few days. Four persons have been arrested," a police officer said.

The incident happened in Hirapur in Burdwan district, 213 km from Kolkata. Police said the girl complained to her father about some boys teasing her regularly, following which he went to confront them. The boys said the girl was having an affair with one of them. The father had a heated argument with the girl Monday night.

After the incident, Leader of Opposition and Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Surjya Kanta Mishra said: "Not a single day passes when an incident of an attack on women is not reported. Today a girl committed suicide in Asansol after she was harassed by men. The attacks on women, especially on minor girls, has shot up."