Purabi Mondal

Calcutta, Sept. 26: Unable to bear the shame of seeing her father being beaten up for allegedly trying to rape her best friend, Purabi Mondal, a Class XII student, hanged herself last night.

?I, Purabi Mondal, daughter of Prabhash Mondal, am committing suicide as I could not bear tonight?s incident,? the 17-year-old girl wrote before death. Her mother, neighbours and police broke open the door to her room this morning and saw her hanging.

Around 10.30 last night, her friend had raised an alarm. Purabi was among several other residents of Daspara in Budge Budge, South 24-Par- ganas, who rushed in to her friend?s house, next to her?s, to find her father in her room.

Prabhash, a technical supervisor in a jute mill, was tied to an electric post, beaten up and handed to the police.

With a decent job, landed property and a large, though single-storey, house, his family ? comprising wife Parbati, Purabi and two other children ? was well to do.

After the chain of events that took place in this middle-class neighbourhood, about 25 km from Calcutta, last night, everyone went home.

This morning, when Purabi did not come out of her room even around 7 am, her mother knocked on the door several times but got no reply. She called the neighbours, who banged on the door, but still got no reply. The police were called in.

The note, written on her school exercise book, was kept under her pillow. ?It was not possible for me to bear the incident,? she said.

Purabi and the girl, her distant relative, who her father allegedly tried to rape were both students of Budge Budge Kalipur High School. Her friend was year junior to her.

?They were very intimate. Everyday, they would go to school and even play together,? said one of the neighbours, Amal Mondal.

He also alleged that Prabhash did not have a good reputation in the locality. He had apparently been caught in ?a similar situation? earlier, but was not handed to the police. ?It is sad that he did not correct himself.?

Prabhash?s son Jagannath, 25, however, was not ready to accept the allegation levelled against his father. ?My father might have been responsible for what happened in the past. But yesterday, he was trapped by some people who were planning to heckle him for a long time,? he alleged.

The police detained both Prabhash and the father of the girl who was allegedly raped, Gobinda Mondal.

Gobinda had played a key role in getting Prabhash beaten up. Purabi killed herself because of her father?s public humiliation.

District superintendent of police S.N. Gupta said he has asked his force to find out what exactly happened.

?The ?victim? girl?s medical report will give us a clue,? said an officer.