Teenage girl immolates self over 'harassment' by teacher

Gonda, Oct 12: A 15-year-old girl allegedly immolated herself after being 'harassed' by her teacher in Kotwali area here, police said today.

The girl, student of a private intermediate college, was under depression and allegedly set herself afire on Friday after which she was admitted to a hospital where she died on Saturday night, Circle Officer Akhand Pratap Singh said.

A letter was recovered from the girl's bag in which she had accused her teachers - Deepak Kumar, Aftab Ahmad and Rashmi Kapur - for the extreme step, he said. On the basis of this, the victim's father lodged an FIR against the three teachers last night, the CO said.

In the complaint, it has been alleged that Deepak Kumar teased the girl about which a grievance was lodged with the college authorities, but no action was taken.

Meanwhile, social organisations and locals yesterday held condolence meeting and candle march to protest against the incident.

Also, a mob allegedly vandalised the college premises and assaulted the accused teachers. District Inspector of Schools VK Dubey said that upon the directive of the district magistrate, all schools and colleges have been closed till October 13 to avoid any untoward incident.

PTI