Scolded over phone, minor girl commits suicide

Raipur: Distressed and angry over being scolded by her elder sister for using her mobile phone late at night, a 14-year-old Class IX student ended her life by jumping into the Arpa river in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district early Tuesday. The tragedy occurred in the Sarkanda area when her's elder sister scolded her asking to put the phone away and go to sleep. Angry over being stopped and scolded, she stormed out of the house and ran towards the Chhath Ghat on the banks of the Arpa river, a few hundred metres away.Her sister, immediately alerted their father, and they chased her, but she jumped into the river and drowned before they could stop her."Her family kept shouting for her to stop," said a neighbour who later helped in the search. "But before they could reach her, she jumped into the river right before their eyes." Hearing their screams, several locals rushed to the spot. Two young men dived into the water to save the girl, but the depth and poor visibility in the darkness prevented them from reaching her.Police said a crowd gathered quickly and the incident was reported to officers. A police team reached the scene shortly after midnight, but rescue operations were postponed due to darkness and the river's strong water current.At dawn, a State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team, assisted by local divers, began a search operation. After nearly two hours of intensive effort, her's body was recovered from the river on Tuesday."The body was stiff and showed no external injuries apart from those caused by impact with the water," police said. The body was sent for postmortem.The tragedy has left the family and the neighbourhood in deep grief.