An Indian Teen Died by Suicide After Being Tagged in a #MeToo Post

A teenager from Gurugram in India died by suicide, late on May 4, after being accused by a girl of sexual assault. The police said on May 5 that the 17-year-old jumped from his house on the 11th floor of an apartment building. The suicide was witnessed by a close friend of the victim who lived in another building, reported Hindustan Times. The friend went to check on the teen but did not report the suicide.

“They (the security guards) found the boy in a pool of blood and informed the family around 11.30 pm. He was rushed to the hospital where doctors declared him dead,” said Deepak Kumar, station house officer of sector 53 police station, to Hindustan Times. The boy had multiple injuries—including a head injury, which caused the death. The police have started a suicide inquiry—under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure—after the parents refused to file a complaint.

While the police did not find a suicide note, on further investigation, they did find messages in the boy’s phone from fellow students warning him of being questioned by the cops. As per reports, the girl posted that she was attacked by the deceased teen two years ago and “was tired of keeping it a secret”. She, then, proceeded to describe the incident that allegedly took place in the basement of her apartment complex. The officers said they will question the students—including the girl who posted and the other students who commented on the post.

The #MeToo post of the girl came in the wake of the ‘bois locker room’ incident. The expose of the group chat made many other girls come forward with their own stories of sexual abuse. Meanwhile, some students have also started writing open letters to their educational administrative authorities asking for sex education and gender sensitisation programmes in schools to prevent further incidents like these.

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