Yet another shameful incident came to light that reflected how our shameless society has failed a young girl once again.
In a heartbreaking incident, a 16-year-old girl attempted to self-immolate in Kumoan’s Pithoragarh district. As per the sources, the girl took the extreme step as she was being allegedly raped and harassed by an elderly person.
But what breaks our heart is the fact that the parents of the girl themselves tried to hide the incident. When they came to know about the incident, rather than supporting her, they first tried to hush up the incident. However, the matter came to light in the Haldwani government hospital where she was referred by doctors.
As per the police, in Haldwani hospital, the girl gave the statement in which she alleged being raped and harassed by a 59-year-old person for a long time. Being tired of being abused, she attempted self-immolation on April 30 in Pithoragarh.
Earlier, the parents had admitted her to a local hospital. Rather than being honest, they claimed that she had sustained burn injuries in a fire incident at home while cooking meals.
As she had sustained over 60% burns was in a critical condition, doctors in Pithoragarh on May 1 referred her to Susheela Tiwari Government Hospital Haldwani. Finally, on Wednesday, she was able to give her statement to the police, following which Haldwani police registered a case against the accused elderly person. This person works in a government department.
As shared by the girl’s father, he lives in Pithoragarh while his daughter lives with her grandmother in Munsyari. He further alleged that in Munsyari, a 59-year-old man sexually harassed her daughter for a long time and threatened her of dire consequences if she told anyone about it.
After continuous sexual harassment, the helpless girl got fed up and attempted self-immolation on the night of April 30, she said in her statement to the police.
While sharing the details, Kashmir Singh, senior sub-inspector at Haldwani police station mentioned:
“We have registered a case against the accused elderly person under POCSO Act and IPC section 376 (rape), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentionally insulting any person).”
At IFORHER, we are heartbroken to see how a young girl had to suffer so much all alone. She felt so helpless that she couldn’t any way to protect herself and decided to take her own life. We wonder how these parents shut down their kid’s pain, rather than helping her out.
We hope authorities would seek strict action against the culprit and wish this young girl will make a speedy recovery.
