No postmortem after teen’s suicide, cops stop last rites

Nagpur: The Sakkardara police on Saturday stopped the last rites being performed on a 16-year-old girl after getting information that she had died by suicide but legal formalities like postmortem were not completed.
The deceased, Chetna Bhoyar, had hanged herself at home at Bahadura on Friday. While Chetna had scored 71% in the SSC examination, results for which were declared on Friday, her friend had got 84%. This had left her upset, as per sources.
“We had to convince the family to hand over the body to us and shift it to Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) mortuary for postmortem. The last rites were performed later,” said senior inspector Dhananjay Patil and added that accidental death was registered.
Chetna’s father Bhojraj, a newspaper vendor, realized there was something amiss and started looking for his daughter soon after the result was declared but her door was locked from inside. He broke open the door only to find his daughter hanging from the ceiling fan with a scarf.
The family rushed the girl from one private hospital to another but none reportedly admitted her and referred her to GMCH.
On realizing that Chetna is dead, the family brought the body home. The family had reached the crematorium with the body when a neighbour alerted the police.
In yet another incident, Ramdulari Zariya, 16, died by suicide at her residence at Sonba Nagar after failing in the SSC exam. Zariya’s mother, a widow, works as a catering labourer. Police said the girl was likely upset as her mother was struggling to raise her. Accidental death was filed at Wadi police station.