Bengaluru: An eight-year-old girl committed suicide by settling herself on fire on Tuesday. In a suicide note which she left behind for her mother, the girl held herself responsible for taking the extreme step.

The minor’s mother is inconsolable. She lost her husband six years ago and now has to come to terms with her daughter’s death. The family cannot understand the reason behind the minor taking her life by setting herself on fire.

“We heard she doused herself with kerosene and killed herself. She was the only family her mother had. They have lived here together,” said the minor’s neighbour.

The girl was studying in the third standard of a Bengaluru school. But she had been skipping school for the last 20 days, something her mother only discovered in her suicide note. In the note, the girl held herself responsible for her own death.

“She has left behind a suicide note in broken language. She mentioned she was sad, we are yet to ascertain what led such a young girl to commit suicide. This is a the first case I have come to know in Bengaluru involving a young child, a child less than ten years old,” said Alok Kumar, Additional Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru.