Mysuru: Father ends life after teen delivers baby

MYSURU: The father of a 17-year-old girl, who delivered a baby at a private hospital in Mysuru last week, has committed suicide at his village in HD Kote taluk of the district after he failed to convince her boyfriend, 23, to marry her.
Police said the girl’s parents who work as farmhands in their village were aghast to learn their minor girl had become a mother. She was pursuing PU arts course at a private college in Mysuru and lived in a hostel there.Police sources said neither the girl nor her parents visited each other often.
The parents’ world came crashing down on June 14 when they were informed their daughter was admitted to a private hospital in Mysuru. “On rushing to the hospital, we were shocked to learn that our daughter had delivered a baby the previous night,” her mother said. The girl’s mother lodged a complaint with the jurisdictional police, accusing her friend, Manju (23)of sexually assaulting her. The boy from Nanjangud was arrested under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO) the next day and remanded in judicial custody.
Sources in the police department said the girl used to frequently visit her grandmother in a neighbouring village in the district and became friendly with the boy, a distant relative. They were reportedly in a relationship for three years.
The girl’s father made frantic — but futile — efforts to get the boy to marry her. Unable to bear the humiliation, he committed suicide by consuming pesticide and succumbed on Sunday.