Schoolgirl 'takes own life' after being stalked

A high school student died allegedly by suicide yesterday morning after being stalked by a young man in the area for a long time.

Mehedi Hasan, first year honour's student of political science at Satkhira Government College, was arrested by police in the afternoon in connection with the incident.

Asfia Khatun, 16, a grade 10 student of a local high school and daughter of Abdul Gaffar of Baganbari area in Satkhira town, was found hanging from a beam in her house around 8:00am, said her mother Johora Begum.

She also said her daughter had verbally informed the deputy commissioner about being stalked and harassed by the accused.

Satkhira's Deputy Commissioner (DC) SM Mostafa Kamal said a girl had come to his office on Sunday evening, along with a district child protection officer, and made a complaint about a young man that had been sexually harassing her for long.

He said he gave her his number along with the numbers of two magistrates, and asked her to call them if she was further harassed, adding that he also informed the matter to the superintendent of police in the district.

Kamal said he learned about her suicide yesterday morning and sent a magistrate to her house.

The victim's uncle, Rustam Ali, filed a case in connection with Asfia's death.

Johora said Mehedi used to harass her daughter frequently. He also made objectionable proposals to her. When she rejected them, he threatened of throwing acid on her. After a lot of frustration from the continuous harassment, she died by suicide.

However, Mehedi's father Shafiqul Islam said his son was arrested due to “a conspiracy against him”.

Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Satkhira Sadar Police Station Mostafizur Rahman said that, just three days ago, another woman had also filed a complaint against Mehedi of sexual harassment. Police tried to arrest him but he was in hiding.

He added that after Asfia's suicide, they gathered information on Mehedi and used one of his acquaintances to trap and arrested him.