Suspected suicide shocks Bandung

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A teenage girl apparently committed suicide by hanging herself from the top of a door frame in her house in Bandung regency, West Java, on Friday.

The death of 14-year-old Fitri Aprianti, a second-year student at Cipeundeuy state junior high school, shocked people in the Babakan Bojong area, who were preparing to break the fast at the time.

Dozens of residents gathered at Fitri's house as police sought clues as to what happened. If found to be suicide, Fitri's death will be the latest of a series of cases involving children and teenagers taking their own lives over the past year.

"We are still investigating the case, but preliminary findings at the scene of the incident suggest that it was suicide," a police officer told Antara.

Newly installed Cipeundeuy Police sub-precinct chief, Adj. Comr. Asep Gunawan, is directly leading the investigation into the girl's death.

Fitri was found dead by her mother hanging from the top of the door frame with a plastic rope around her neck. Her father was working in neighboring Bandung city when the incident occurred.

Detectives found no traces of violence on Fitri's body.

In the previous cases, the young people who committed suicide hailed from poor families. Some of them took their own lives after their parents could not pay their school fees or fees for extra-curricular activities.

Antara did not mention whether Fitri came from a poor family.

Her family refused to permit an autopsy on her remains.

"The family of the victim objected to an autopsy, therefore her body was not sent to the Hasan Sadikin Hospital morgue," a detective said.