A gang hired allegedly by Mohammad Ali nicknamed Raju, accused in a murder case, kidnapped Mary Yusuf Sharmin's younger brother Shahin a day before she committed suicide locking herself up in her room in Dhalpur on June 28.

The 18-year-old girl took her own life out of desperation half an hour after she returned home from Raju's place where she went to rescue her brother from captivity.

The abduction came after Sharmin's parents refused to marry their daughter off to Raju despite much insistence.

"Raju offered to marry our daughter but we refused," said her father Yousuf Ali in the first information report.

The family took shelter in a relative's house and the criminals are still threatening to kill them, if they did not withdraw the case Sharmin's father filed with Demra Police Station accusing Raju of provocation leading to her suicide.

"I have lost my daughter ... now I'm going to lose my son too," Sharmin's mother Nazma Begum told Star City, disconsolate with grief.

"We really don't know where we can hide ourselves," said Sharmin's father.

Locals allege Raju, son of Sarafat Ali, teased the schoolgirl on the way to school and back home and forced her family to move into different places in Demra and lately into Dhalpur that they also left under death threats after Sharmin's suicide.

Nephew of Muksar in Demra, who figures on the police list of criminals, Raju is at large, but law enforcers did not arrest him because of his connections with influential people. It was alleged that Raju, a relative of a ward commissioner, is exerting his influence on the police.

"We are trying to trace Raju and his accomplices. We came to know Raju was in Demra," Investigation Officer Abul Kashem told The Daily Star.

Nazma Begum said: "She (Sharmin) had marks of injury on her body suggesting assaults."

"My daughter could not bear psychological and physical harassment. She might have blamed herself for her brother's abduction," she said.

Sharmin is not alone. Simi, Fahima, Indrani, Mohima, Trisa and Rumi were virtually forced to take their own lives because of persistent teasing.

Teasing has become a common offence to young women. Almost every locality is plagued with eve-teasers. Unemployed youths, having nothing to do, tease young girls and women on the streets and drive them to 'die rather than bear with it'.

"I have lost my daughter. I don't want to see more deaths from inhuman harassment that Simi had to endure before she chose death," said Zerina Begum whose daughter Simi committed suicide under threat in 2001.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance, 1976 contains anti-teasing provisions and the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act 2000 provides for one-year imprisonment or a fine of Tk 2,000 or both for the offence.

The victims sometimes file diaries with police stations, but nothing happens next. The inquiry and trial are so lengthy that the guilty easily slip through the loopholes of laws.

"All is happening with the knowledge of law enforcers. The laws have specific provisions for punishment for such offences, but there is no instance of application of these laws," Zerina said.

"Eve-teasing creates a negative psychological effect on the minds of all victims. But it depends on their emotion, age and social status," said Dr AHM Firoz, director of Mental Health Institute.

"The girls who are more emotional become upset and break down easily. This depression can make her mentally sick prompting her to do anything," Dr Firoz said.