13-year-old girl accused of theft commits suicide in Noida

A 13-year-old girl, accused of stealing a mobile phone and cash during a school trip, allegedly committed suicide at her rented accommodation in Noida’s Sector 15 on Wednesday night, police said.

Aarti Kumari, who hailed from Jharkhand’s Giridih, lived with her father, Kameshwar Nayak, mother, Sunita, and brother, Anand Kumar. She studied in a government school in Delhi’s New Ashok Nagar.

“On November 29, Aarti had gone on a trip organised by the school and returned the next day. On December 1, she found a mobile in her bag that was mistakenly kept during the trip. She handed it over to Sunita and requested her to submit it to the school as she was not well,” Nayak said.

Before Sunita could return the mobile, a teacher from her school visited their home on December 2 and accused Aarti of stealing the phone and some cash, he said.

“The teacher took the mobile and left. However, when Aarti went to the school on December 3, the school administration harassed her and forced her to sign a document confessing stealing of the phone and Rs 1,000 cash from a teacher’s bag. When she returned, she was terrified. When I went to the school, I found that she was rusticated,” said Kameshwar, who runs a grocery shop in the locality.

On Wednesday night, when the family returned home at about 8pm they found Aarti hanging from the ceiling fan.

They informed the police who filed a case of abetment to suicide against the school administration. Her father alleged that she committed suicide as she was harassed and expelled from the school over false allegations.

“We have registered a case against the school administration following the complaint of the father of the deceased. The school principal will be called for questioning. The body was sent for postmortem, reports of which are still awaited,” said Rashid Ali, station house officer of Sector 20 police station.