Kamal Ghorui
MEERUT: A 14-year-old Dalit girl was found hanging on the roof of her house in Lakhimpur Kheri, with her family claiming she was under tremendous stress ever since the man accused of molesting her earlier was released from prison on bail a week ago and he threatened to kill her.At the time of the incident on Wednesday afternoon, her parents were away — her father was working as a farm labour and her mother was collecting firewood. They found her hanging in their house after they returned from work.The girl’s father said that on Jan 10, his daughter had gone to a nearby field to collect fodder when Lavlesh Kumar (25) dragged her into the bushes and molested her. As she raised an alarm, the accused hurled casteist slurs and fled. She came back home and told her parents, who filed a police complaint. An FIR was registered and the accused was arrested and sent to jail.“After getting bail, Lavlesh met my daughter when she had gone out to a nearby shop and threatened to kill her if we did not take back the case. My daughter then told us that she was terrified and was under mental stress, but before we could do anything, she took the extreme step,” said her father.Following a complaint by the family, an FIR under BNS 108 (abetment of suicide) and 3(2)(v) of SC/ST Act was registered against the accused on Thursday, said circle officer Shivam Kumar. “He was arrested and sent to jail on Friday,” said Kumar.(With inputs from Asif Ansari in Bareilly)(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
