Aspersion on character makes Manikganj girl attempt suicide

A class-VIII girl has reportedly tried to commit suicide at Ramkrishnapur in Harirampur upazila after an arbitration fined her and three of her friends Tk 1 lakh lebelling her ‘characterless’.Even the arbitrators tortured her family members when they refused to pay the fine.
The incident which took place on Monday came to the fore on Tuesday after a video footage of her family members being beaten up went viral on social networking site Facebook.
The victim’s father said the girl studies at a local high school staying at her maternal grandfather’s house at Ramkrishnapur.
A group of youths used to harass her on her way to and from school. Recently, she disclosed the matter to her maternal grandmother, much to the anger of the youths.
On Sunday evening, three of her male friends came to visit her place. Taking the advantage, the youths confined all of them to a room and called for arbitration after labelling the girl characterless.
At the meeting at the local school ground, arbitrators, including local union parishad member Mahab Ali, former UP member Aynal, Jonab Ali, Matabbar Kanchan Master and Lutfar of the area, fined the four students Tk 1 lakh.
The arbitrators went to the victim’s residence to realise money the following day on Monday. At one stage, they beat her family members when they refused to pay the fine.
A video footage of the incident went viral on social media.
After the incident, the girl got devastated mentally and attempted to commit suicide by drinking toilet cleaner Harpic on Monday night, said the family.
She is now undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Savar of Dhaka.
Kamal Hossain, chairman of Ramkrishnapur union parishad, said he had not been informed about the meeting and the fine as well.
Mosharraf Hossain, officer-in-charge of Harirampur Police Station, said the victim’s father filed a case accusing nine people and three of them were arrested.
However, all of them got bail after they were produced from the court, he said, reports UNB from Manikganj.