Unable to bear the public humiliation of being beaten up by neighbours over her mother's alleged illicit relationship, a 15-year-old committed suicide in Sewri's Indira Nagar slums recently.

While her family claimed the girl was stripped semi-naked and paraded, police said frustration caused by constant fights between mother Muttulakshmi Harijan and neighbour Jayanthi Shivkumar Harijan pushed her.

The girl is reported to have committed suicide on the afternoon of September 14 after returning from school to witness another scuffle between her mother and Jayanthi. She first allegedly consumed an insecticide and later doused herself with kerosene and set ablaze. She suffered over 60 per cent burns and was rushed to JJ Hospital, where she died on September 19.

The family claimed police did not record her entire dying declaration. "The girl recalled how she was dragged out of her house and how four women and two men tried tearing her school uniform. Humiliated, she rushed home and committed suicide. None of this is mentioned in her dying declaration," claimed cousin Amu Franscis.

Franscis claimed all witnesses had turned hostile. "No one wants to help us. Everyone claims to have not been present at the time of the incident."

Police have arrested Jayanthi but the three others named by the victim are yet to be traced.

"Police have conveniently not mentioned the men in the FIR," said another relative.

In her dying declaration, the victim named six people.

Neighbour Yellama, who claimed to know both families well, claimed Muttulakshmi had an illicit relationship with Jayanthi's husband Shivkumar, a local Shiv Sena worker. She said Jayanthi too had a similar relation with Muttulakshmi's husband.

"This is a two-year-old fight. The kid was victimised in the process."

Police, however, said: "The girl committed suicide after seeing her mother fight constantly. We received several complaints in the past but did not register an FIR," said inspector K V Ahwane.

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