A 16-year-old girl who had just given her Class 10 examination set herself ablaze after her father and other members of the family scolded her over her continuous use of a mobile phone during the summer vacation.
The girl, R. Yogalakshmi, daughter of Ramu of Govardhanagiri near Avadi, was depressed after her father imposed a ban on her use of mobile phones.
Ramu, who runs a book-binding press in the same neighbourhood, had seen his teenaged daughter using the phone even at night and had warned her many times. “It seems she kept on telling him that she has stopped using the phone but secretly continued talking and texting her friends even at night,” the police said.
“Even your uncle had told me that your were using mobile phone continuously. Though you claim that you have stopped using the phone, I know you are using it. I can ask your uncle to come to our house and vouch for it,” Ramu had told his daughter and left the house on Thursday.
The girl was worried that her father had come to know that she was using the mobile phone secretly, the police said.
On Thursday, when her mother was away and nobody was at home, set doused herself with kerosene and set herself on fire.
Neighbours who noticed smoke emitting from the house, rushed her to hospital. However, she died on the way, the police said.