Woman dies after falling from Kanpur court building; kin alleges harassment

Kanpur, Oct 18 (PTI) A 30-year-old woman stenographer died after allegedly falling from the sixth floor of the Kanpur court building on Saturday afternoon, police said.

Her grandfather said she was harassed at workplace and that she could not have jumped to death.

Neha Sankhwar, a resident of Ghatampur, was employed as a stenographer in the court of the Civil Judge (Senior Division), Kanpur Police Commissioner of Police Raghubir Lal said.  She had been living in a rented room in the Barra area and had joined work a few months ago, he added.  The court staff and visitors found Sankhwar in a pool of blood in the courtyard.  She was rushed by the police Ursula Horsman Memorial (UHM) Hospital, where doctors declared her dead on arrival.

 Preliminary probe suggested that Sankhwar had been under stress over a court-related matter she was handling, an official, pleading anonymity, said.

Her grandfather, Jai Prakash Sankhwar, accused some court employees of harassing her.  He alleged that Neha had told her mother about the harassment and said that her death might not be a suicide.

"She was under tremendous pressure and had mentioned workplace harassment several times. We demand a fair and thorough investigation," he said.

Police have initiated an inquiry into the matter and sent the body for a post-mortem to determine the exact cause of death, Raghubir Lal said. PTI COR NAV   VN VN