Girl ends life in UP after being blackmailed

Etah (Uttar Pradesh), Oct 28 A 16-year-old girl in Etah district of Uttar Pradesh allegedly ended her life by jumping from an under-construction building. She did not leave behind any suicide note.

Initially, the police suspected her father of pushing her off the building on Monday but later investigations indicated that she was being harassed by a businessman, who earlier lived as a tenant in her house.

A few days before the incident, the girl had gone to the accused's shop that is in the market and was beaten up by her mother after her return.

On Monday, her parents and younger brother went to the hospital for a check-up and the girl was alone at home.

When they came back, they found the house locked from inside and waited for her to open the door. It was then that some locals informed them of her death. The parents went to the spot to identify the body.

Later, police went to the shop of the accused and seized his mobile phone in which the girl's photos had been saved and she was probably being blackmailed by him.

Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Etah, Om Prakash Singh, said that the accused was produced before a court in Etah on Tuesday and has been sent to judicial custody. He was booked for sexual harassment and abetment to suicide.

Relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act were also added in the complaint.

( With inputs from IANS )