Girl ends life over malicious online rumours

Sunita (name changed) was an avid Facebook user till the ugly side of social networking struck her. The Class XI student at a prominent city school committed suicide on Thursday after an allegedly scorned lover spread unsavoury information about her among her friends online.

The daughter of a senior state government official hung herself in her room at their south Kolkata residence a day after the youth, who she had met on the site through friends, put up malicious posts about her.

According to the police, the girl used to be holed up in her room on the first floor of the family residence, logged on to Facebook.

On Thursday morning, when she did not come out even after the usual hours, her parents banged on the door. A neighbour who could see her window from her next-door house reported that something was amiss.

The parents broke the door open to find their daughter’s body swinging from a dupatta tied to the ceiling.

 On the computer screen flashed the suicide note, which told her parents what had gone wrong. In the note, she asked her friends and family to see to it that the youth is punished.

The police are currently looking for the youth, said to be in his early 20s. They are questioning the girl's close friends and tracing others to find out more about him.

“Once caught, the youth could be charged with aiding and abetting suicide as well as attempts to outrage the modesty of a woman. We have taken note of the messages he posted on the victim's friend's Facebook ‘wall’,” said a senior police officer.

“We’ve come to know from some of her close friends that after a few days (of befriending her), the youth made indecent advances towards her through the site. When she refused to acknowledge him any more, he started abusing and spreading  lies about her.

We’ve taken her computer into custody, and are analysing the chat history between the two,” he said.