Teen Kills Self After Teacher Allegedly Sexually Assaulted And Blackmailed Her

A teen girl in India killed herself after she was allegedly sexually assaulted and emotionally blackmailed by a teacher at her school, police said.

The unidentified 17-year-old from Coimbatore, a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, was found dead on Nov. 11 at her home while her parents were away. The girl's family alleged that the victim was sexually assaulted for around six months by her teacher, 31-year-old K Mithun Chakravarthy, and she was under severe mental stress by his repeated harassment, OP India reported.

The police arrested Chakravarthy on Nov. 13 on charges of sexual assault of a minor and abetment of suicide. The police said they were also investigating if the suspect had sexually abused other children in school.

The girl who was reportedly traumatized by the teacher's assault had repeatedly asked her parents to change her school but never told them the reason. The family shifted her school in September but reportedly learned about the teacher's abuse only after her death.

When the girl complained about the sexual assault to the school Principal, she was allegedly asked not to speak about it, claiming that it might damage her reputation. The school offered counseling services to the victim but did not inform her family. During the counseling service, the victim was asked to take the assault lightly and to “brush it off” as an accident, the victim's mother complained.

The victim's father alleged that the school management did not take any action against the accused teacher for months and that he was suspended only in September. The police arrested the school's Principal, Meera Jackson, on Nov. 14 on charges of failing to report the assault.

The investigators reviewed the phone conversations between Chakravarthy and the victim and found out that he had befriended the girl through chat messaging. The police also found evidence of him talking about the sexual assault, blackmailing the victim and blaming her for what happened, News Minute reported.

According to reports, the girl had called up a friend before her death and talked to him about her ordeal. However, when the friend went to her home to inform her parents about it, he realized that the victim had already hung herself. The police recovered a suicide note where she has revealed the name of the suspect.

If you have thoughts of suicide, confidential help is available for free at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Call 1-800-273-8255. The line is available 24 hours, every day.