12-yr-old’s body found hanging in Ctg home

Police recovered the hanging body of a 12-year-old girl from a house in Chattogram's Lalkhan Bazar early Sunday.

The victim, Srabanti Ghosh, daughter of KEPZ security guard Tapan Ghosh and garment worker Rosy Ghosh, was a fourth-grade student at Lalkhan Bazar Government Primary School.

Contacted yesterday, Khulshi Police Station Officer-in-Charge Jahedul Islam said, "Police found her body hanging from the bamboo ceiling of their home and sent it to Chattogram Medical College Hospital for an autopsy. A dark bruise was found around her neck during the inquest, but there were no other injury marks.

"We are waiting for the post-mortem report to know whether it was a homicide or a death by suicide."

An unnatural death case was filed by the victim's maternal uncle, Rana Das, on Sunday, he added.

The incident came to light after a photo of the girl circulated on social media over the past two days.

The victim lived with her mother and younger brother in a one-room rented house on the ground floor of a building in the Panir Tanki Pahar area. The father lives on the KEPZ premises and visits the family once or twice a month.

Speaking to The Daily Star yesterday, the mother, Rosy Ghosh, said, "My children usually stay at my father-in-law's house near our home from morning to night, as my husband and I work. That night, my daughter was at her grandfather's house and returned home alone around 10:00pm while I was at work.

"Around half an hour later, my father-in-law brought our son home and found the door ajar. When he opened it, he saw Srabanti hanging. I rushed home immediately after receiving his call.

"Srabanti's feet were still planted on the bed -- something that would not have been the case if it were a suicide.

"My daughter was just a minor; she didn't even know what suicide was."