A 21-year-old man has been arrested in Mumbai on charges of sexually exploiting his 14-year-old cousin, who killed herself after blaming him in a suicide note, police said. After the girl was found dead at her home in the central suburbs on Saturday, police recovered a suicide note in which she wrote that the constant sexual assault by her cousin was what had led to her to the extreme step. Police, who had initially registered an accidental death report, later booked a first information report on charges of sexual harassment and abetment of suicide of a minor along with those under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. Police arrested her cousin on Sunday and produced him before a court, which remanded him to their custody. An officer said the police had found out that the girl had previously attempted suicide at her sister’s wedding owing to the same reason. Since the sexual harassment by her cousin continued, the officer added, she died by suicide on Saturday.
