In separate incidents in Kanpur district, three young girls have ended their lives following harassment by boys during the past three days.

In Sachendi, a 20-year-old young woman hanged herself after a man of her village entered her house, threatening to murder her if she did not marry him.

She was engaged to another person on March 31, but the youth was building pressure on her and she took the drastic step within minutes after being threatened, said her brother.

“She hanged herself the day we were at the police station for the third time on April 7 evening. Police did not heed our complaint, nor did they act against the boy who threatened her twice, first on April 4 and then April 7,” he said.

In the second case, a girl ended her life in Saadh after a boy stole pictures from her social media account and harassed her by morphing them.

Her father said he had personally spoken to the boy and his father several times. But he became more emboldened and started sending more obscene messages.

On April 5, when the girl was at a grocery store, he followed her and humiliated her for shutting her mobile down. The next day the family woke up to find her hanging from a hook in the ceiling, he said. “We have lodged an FIR and want the law to punish him severely,” he said.

In the third case, a girl, aged 19, committed suicide in Colonelganj on Saturday. She was also being harassed by a boy.

Joint commissioner of police Anand Prakash Tiwari said the police would initiate stringent action in all three cases.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)