A 16-year-old girl yesterday died after allegedly jumping off the rooftop of a four-storey building of an NGO in capital's Mirpur area on Wednesday.
Identified as Sumi Akter Lipi, the dead was a trainee at an NGO named Samajik Punuruddhar O Shongshodhon Samity that works in collaboration with the Victim Support Centre (VSC) under Dhaka Metropolitan Police for rehabilitation and correction of victims.
The incident took place around 8pm on Wednesday. She was immediately taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where she died around 2:20am yesterday.
“Sumi, who was lost, was brought here by the VSC officials two-and-a-half years back,” Nasir Uddin, executive director of Samajik Punuruddhar O Shongshodhon Samity, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Police could not provide any detail of Sumi. Since then she had been receiving trainings here, he said.
“Normally, we provide trainings for one and a half years, but since Sumi had no address or guardian, she stayed here longer,” said the director.
Nasir claimed that Sumi had grown a love affair with a construction worker from a site near the NGO building.
“She had planned to elope with the boy on Wednesday with the help of some other trainees. We are trying to identify the boy and those who intended to help her in eloping,” he said, adding that his organisation had adequate security arrangements.
“We have a female hostel super who looks after the girls. No boys or outsiders are allowed here. Even we have cordoned the rooftop with tin for extra safety,” he claimed.
However, sources in Mirpur police said Sumi fell off the roof while trying to escape from the samity with two other girls aged 13 and 10.
The three had planned to climb down the building with a rope made by joining seven stoles. When Sumi first attempted to climb down, the rope snapped and she fell on the ground.
Samajik Punuruddhar O Shongshodhon Samity have filed a case in this connection while Sumi's body was sent to the DMCH morgue for autopsy.
