Tension gripped Madhya Pradesh's Harda district on Friday after a class 11 student committed suicide over alleged police inaction on a complaint of sexual harassment. It forced security forces to tighten security and impose prohibitory orders under section 144 (unlawful assembly) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. It empowers a magistrate to prohibit an assembly of more than four people in an area.
Also read: Discussing sexual assault on social media has been cathartic for a lot of Indian women
A mob pelted stones in a local market leading to tense situation in the city.
On Wednesday, a class 11 student living in Kheripura had committed suicide by hanging herself at her house. Sources said that local police had not launched investigation against some youths who sexually harassed the girl forcing her to take her own life.
Locals had also protested against the police on Thursday.
At least 12 men, including two identified as Salmaan and Farooq, have been charged for harassing the girl. However, not all the accused have been arrested. Large number of people had assembled outside the police station on Friday to protest against the investigators.
However, there were others who claimed that police have arrested some innocent people. The other group was headed to the police station on Friday to protest against the arrest of the innocent people, but police attempted to stop them. Matters took a turn for the worse then.
Harda (MP): Section 144 imposed as people came together after a student committed suicide due to inaction of police on eve teasing complaint pic.twitter.com/NbjqUXvNhV
— ANI (@ANI_news) February 3, 2017
SP Aditya Pratap Singh said that the situation is under control. However, additional police forces were called in to control the situation.
Those protesting against police inaction claim that they had initially investigated only two people and later let them go. However, the boys did not stop harassing the girl.
The station in-charge of the area, Pratap Tyagi, told News18 on Thursday that the case was registered by the family of the girl in July 2016. The accused were investigated. However, the family of the accused and the girl have counter attacked each other and filed counter cases. Police had reportedly attempted to mediate between the two groups.
