Bihar girl commits suicide after molestation bid

A 14-year-old girl committed suicide in a village in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district after a teacher of a madrasa (Muslim seminary) tried to molest her, police said Tuesday.

She committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan with a rope late Monday night, police said.

The teacher, Irfan Alam tried to molest the girl when she was sleeping in her house two days ago at Budhnagar Jagannath village in Muzaffarpur, 70 km from here.

Alam failed in his attempt after the girl raised an alarm and he was caught and thrashed by the villagers.

"We have lodged a case and begun an investigation into it to verify the circumstances that forced her to end life," police official Dhanajay Kumar told IANS over telephone from Muzaffarpur, about 70 km from here.

The village panchayat imposed a fine of Rs.51,000 on Alam as a punishment but he refused to pay the amount to girl's family. Later, "Alam in the presence of police agreed to pay the fine," Kumar said.

Some villagers reportedly taunted the girl over the issue, and this led her to commit suicide, police said.