‘Will you please listen now?’: A 17-year-old girl in suicide note

“These people didn’t even let my dream come true…I no longer have the courage to face them. However, my family should not suffer. Sir [authorities], will you please listen now? Punish the men after my death…so that poor girls can live and …fulfil their dreams,” reads the note that carries names of four men. She alleged they “tried to kill” her and she stopped going to school because they would harass her. “They used to threaten me that they would kill my parents. They would climb up the terrace and threaten me with knives. When my parents found out, they filed a complaint but nobody did anything,” reads the letter.

The Moradabad police have arrested two of the accused, Vikesh and Amrut, while two others are absconding. Vikesh works as a Rojgar Sevak, and Amrut is unemployed. Their families weren’t home when this correspondent reached there.

Co-villagers support the girl’s family and agree that the accused harassed the girl. Her father, a farm labourer, said she had big dreams. “She would have been the first person in the family to go to college. She wanted to study in Delhi and become a teacher. I was ready to take loans for her studies because, I thought, this would be our way out of poverty. I was shocked when she stopped going to school. My daughter was a fighter but they pushed her to do this…”

Her elder sister, who does odd jobs to support the family, said, “I found out about Vikesh last month. She told me to not react. We were scared as they would threaten us with pistols and knives. Vikesh and his friends stalked my sister for months. They also shot a video of my sister when she was taking a bath as our bathroom is on the terrace. On Sunday, my parents and I were out shopping when she drank something and told me in the evening that she doesn’t want to live… we took her to a hospital but she died.”

One of the girl’s friends said, “She never told me about the accused. I had only seen Vikesh once touching her inappropriately. She got scared and ran. We didn’t fight with him because he is always roaming around with goons. I don’t know what happened. She was always positive. She would even help me with my work.”

In the note, the girl also mentioned a friend, saying she made her write a letter to the accused. “I don’t know why she mentioned me… I never wrote any letter to anyone. I knew the boys were harassing her and had asked her to tell her family. She was worried about her parents’ safety and kept quiet,” her friend said.

Moradabad SSP Hemraj Meena told the media that a Sub-Inspector has been suspended for not handling the complaint properly. “The accused lives next to the girl’s house. Her family lodged a complaint of molestation on March 8 and the accused was detained. He was later released on bail. We have suspended SI Sachin Malik for not taking appropriate legal action. We have arrested two of the accused named in the note.”

A case has been registered against the men for sexual harassment of a minor, outraging the modesty of a woman, disrobing, voyeurism, stalking, house trespass, criminal intimidation and abetment to suicide.

Police officials on condition of anonymity said the accused and the girl’s families were embroiled in a property dispute and had lodged complaints against each other in the past.