A class VII student in Jamalpur, east Burdwan district, committed suicide on Friday evening. She hanged herself after being blackmailed by a young man who used edited photos of her to demand Rs 5 lakh.
Her family found her hanging from a ceiling fan with a scarf around her neck. They immediately took her to a nearby hospital, but doctors declared her brought dead.
The girl's parents told the police that she had a friend living nearby who was involved.
“The 20-year-old man sent edited pictures of her to her phone. He then started making inappropriate demands, but she ignored them. She didn't go to the police because she was worried about social stigma,” explained an officer from Jamalpur police station.
During the investigation, the police discovered that the man had already shared the edited photos on social media. “He then started blackmailing her, asking for Rs 5 lakh, and threatened to spread the photos further if she didn’t pay,” the officer said.
Her older brother shared that she had confided in him and other family members about the situation.
“She was scared after the photos were shared online. We tried to comfort her and told her we would report it to the police. She didn't say much and went to her room,” he said.
Sub-divisional police officer Abhishek Mondal mentioned that the suspect’s phone records showed he was in Jharkhand when he committed the crime of sharing the photos and blackmailing the girl.
“We are currently searching for him,” he added.
Across India, cases of sharing private photos have been increasing. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), there were 61 reports of women’s edited photos being shared online in 2022, with 12 of those cases happening in West Bengal.
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