Raksha Sharma was barely 2 years old when militants in Doda, Jammu
& Kashmir, killed her parents in 1997. She grew up in an orphanage
in Jammu, and wanted to become an engineer.
On Tuesday, Raksha hanged herself in her hostel room in Punjab’s
Jalandhar district after two youths posted an obscene illustration and
crude remarks about her on Facebook.
Police said the men would humiliate her for having lived in an
orphanage, threatened to disfigure her face with acid, and gave her
mobile phone number to others who harassed her constantly.
“She was so happy that she had got admission to Mehar Chand
Polytechnic, one of the best in Punjab,” said 17-year-old Snehlata, the
youngest of Raksha’s six siblings. Raksha was a second-semester student
of the diploma course in computer engineering. Hostel residents and
college authorities described her as a cheerful, smiling girl.
“Raksha, me and Bhawna, our eldest sister, were brought to an
ashram run by SOS Children’s Villages in Jammu by our maternal uncle
Hari Kishan after militants killed our parents in 1997,” Snehlata said.
“Our father was a small farmer. The militants suspected he was a police
informer.”
Rakesh Jinsi, national director of SOS Children’s Villages,
expressed shock and surprise at Raksha’s suicide. “She could have spoken
to her sisters or to us... She had called her friends at the ashram on
August 14, and told them she would be coming to Jammu soon,” Jinsi said.
In her suicide note, Raksha accused two men — Deepak Saini and
Lovepreet — of pushing her to death. Her cell phone was found below her
hanging body. One of her classmates who declined to be identified said
Raksha had been irregular in class and seemed upset, but had not told
her anything.
Polytechnic principal Jagroop Singh said Raksha had skipped her
second semester exams in May-June, and had not been attending classes.
One of the last people to see Raksha alive was Rukhsana, a
Master’s student of zoology. “I left the hostel for my home in Kathua on
Tuesday afternoon, and Raksha came to see me off. She asked me when I
would return,” Rukhsana said. “After I left, I called her to ask her to
check if I had remembered to lock the almirah in my room, and she
sounded fine even then.”
Rukhsana said though Raksha called her ‘Didi’ and they had their
meals together, Raksha was not particularly close to anyone in the
hostel, and preferred to spend time with herself.
Deepak and Lovepreet, both of whom graduated from the polytechnic
this year, have been remanded in judicial custody. Both men belong to
Jalandhar, and have been charged under IPC Section 306 (abetting
suicide). Police have seized the mobile phones of both men and Raksha,
and Lovepreet’s laptop.
