A 14-year-old boy has committed suicide after being named in a #MeToo social media post accusing him of sexual assault.
The boy, from Gurugram, a city just southwest of New Delhi in India, was accused of sexually molesting a girl in a post, after it was revealed that the boy was a member of an Instagram group of schoolboys called “Bois Locker Room” that discussed “sexual violence,” according to the Hindustan Times.
A girl, who claimed that she was sexually molested by the boy, wrote a #MeToo post on Instagram, accusing him of abusing her at an apartment complex basement two years prior to the claim, stating she could was “was tired of keeping it a secret.”
After being told that the boy would be questioned by police following the accusations, the boy leaped from his family’s 11th floor plummeting to his death.
Although no suicide note was left behind, an officer said “No suicide note was found but messages retrieved from the boy’s phone showed that fellow students warned him that he will be questioned by the police.”
The boy’s suicide was witnessed by a close friend, from a building nearby, who went to check on the teen, but failed to report the event to authorities.
Guards outside a local police station reportedly heard a thud and found the boy in a pool of blood on the sidewalk.
Deepak Kumar, of sector 53 police station, said the guards “found the boy in a pool of blood and informed the family around 11.30 pm. He was rushed to the hospital where doctors declared him dead.”
Following the autopsy, the coroner said: “There were multiple injuries, including head injury, which caused the death.”
Police have expressed an intent to question the girl who made the Instagram #MeToo post as well as all of the members of the “Bois Locker Room” group as part of an ongoing suicide investigation.
If you or a loved on are experiencing suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
