This town in Haryana – the state infamous for skewed sex ratio – has yet to come to terms with the death of two teenage girls earlier this week.
Nikita Duhan (17) and her friend Madhu (16) committed suicide on Monday after getting tired of repeated stalking and harassment by a few young men.
The abusers had made it their habit to follow the girls to their coaching institute and back.
Both the girls were intelligent and shared a common dream – to travel to the United States and live the American dream, reported a leading English daily on Wednesday.
However, their dreams came crashing last Monday when they could not bear it anymore and decided to end their life.
Both drank mango drinks laced with poison – suspected to be toxic chemicals – at their coaching institute.
The suicide notes left behind summed up their state of mind – they were troubled so much by the stalking and harassment that they could not concentrate on studies any more. This, they believed, would affect their performance as well as their American dream.
“Everyday a new man would come and chase us. They would pass lewd remarks and offer us phone numbers. The people around us would stare as if we had done something wrong. You know how bad our colony is… how people will say we encouraged these men to follow us… even though we are innocent,” Madhu wrote in her suicide note.
Police, meanwhile, have arrested one suspect named Lokesh, who was identified in Madhu’s suicide note.
Nikita, in her suicide note, had a warning for the society: “More women will go our way if action is not taken”.
Meanwhile, DSP Karan Goel said that as per primary investigation, “they (the girls) had consumed poison”.
Commenting on the incident, NCW member Shamina Shafiq said, “It’s unfortunate that even after several laws have been made, girls have to take such extreme measures”.
