Upset over not getting new clothes, 11-yr-old girl commits suicide

An 11-year-old class 4 student of a private school committed suicide after her father denied her request to buy new clothes for the upcoming Durga Puja, police said on Monday.

Dashmesh Public School student Soma Mandal hanged herself at her New Ashok Nagar house in east Delhi on Sunday night, said a police officer. Her mother was in the kitchen and her two siblings were in the common room when the incident happened at 7.30 pm.  

When her mother found her hanging from the ceiling fan, she informed her husband, Tapan Mandal, who works as a helper at a shop in a nearby area, police said. Tapan rushed home, only to find her daughter hanging.

“We got a call from Tapan’s neighbour, telling us about the incident. We went there and took Soma to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, where she was declared brought dead,” said the officer.

No suicide note was found. Police came to know that two days ago, Soma had asked her father to buy new clothes for the festival.

Her father had denied her request, saying he did not earn and he would buy some other items. Despite her repeated requests, her father, who earns Rs 6,000 per month, told her that he would be unable to buy the clothes.

“She is suspected to have killed herself as she was upset over this. The family was watching TV in the afternoon, and two hours after Tapan left for work, his daughter committed suicide,” said the officer.

The officer said though Tapan can barely make ends meet, he sent his daughter to a good school.

“The body was handed over to the family after a post-mortem,” said the officer.