On Thursday, the woman allegedly consumed pesticides at her residence when her parents were away at the farm, the police said. (Representational)

An assistant sub-inspector at a police outpost in Dhenkanal district of Odisha was suspended after an 18-year-old woman allegedly killed herself over alleged harassment by a 40 year-old-man from her village. Despite submitting a complaint to the police, no action was taken against the accused, the victim’s family said.

On Thursday, the woman allegedly consumed pesticides at her residence when her parents were away at the farm, the police said. The accused, who is absconding, has been booked under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

According to the family, they had approached the Bhapur police outpost and had submitted a written complaint against the accused on July 6. The woman alleged then that the man stalked and harassed her whenever she was alone at home. The woman and her family had approached the police again a week after submitting the complaint but no action initiated, the family added.

“My daughter was tired of the continuous harassment. He (accused) would stalk her and make inappropriate gestures and even touched her inappropriately. When she informed us, we went to the police but even after so many days of filing the complaint, he roamed freely and continued to harass my daughter,” the girl’s mother told The Indian Express.

Following the incident, assistant sub-inspector Padmanabh Sahu, who was in-charge of the outpost, was suspended following orders from the Inspector General of Police Talcher Range Narasingha Bhol. An inquiry into the matter has been initiated under Dhenkanal Superintendent of Police, Anupama James.

“The accused is still on the run but will be arrested soon. We are also looking into the complaints submitted by the family earlier and all necessary actions will be taken,” James said.