Japan books girl whose suicide resulted in another woman's death, sparks debate on internet

Police say the girl was old enough to realise that she could be at risk of hitting pedestrians walking below. (Representational image: Unsplash)

Authorities in Japan have ignited controversy after deciding to prosecute a 17-year-old girl whose suicide resulted in another woman’s death. The incident had occurred on August 31 when the teenager jumped from the 12th floor of a building and fell on a woman walking on the street, resulting in two deaths.

Police say the girl was old enough to realise that she could be at risk of hitting pedestrians walking below, and have asked for an indictment to be officially recorded. The teen had landed on a corporate professional, 32-year-old Chikako Chiba, who was walking with three friends. But critics have condemned the move to prosecute a dead teenager as pointless and a waste of resources, Japan Today reported.

A message on the Japan Today website stated, “Prosecuting a dead girl is peak government ridiculousness – bureaucrats so obsessed with following their rigid, outdated rules that they’ve completely lost touch with common sense and human decency.”

Meanwhile, Shinichi Ishizuka, the founder of the Tokyo-based Criminal Justice Future think tank, said there were two reasons for the authorities trying to prosecute the dead teen. “If the girl had lived then it would have been straightforward for prosecutors to charge her with negligence resulting in death. A criminal prosecution is no longer possible but by carrying out a full investigation and bringing these charges, it will make it easier for the family of the [woman] victim to open a civil case for damages,” Ishizuka said.

The Japan authorities were keen to highlight the legal consequences of someone who chose to die of suicide in a way that endangered other people's lives, he said, adding that this could possibly even deter others from taking a similar course of action.

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