Poverty-stricken woman drowns daughters to death

WOMAN ALSO MADE A SUICIDE BID BUT THE TREE BRANCH FROM WHICH SHE TRIED TO HANG HERSELF BROKE

PHAGWARA:A 23-year-old migrated woman killed her two daughters and attempted suicide by hanging self from a tree in Kishanpura village here on Sunday, a move, police said, was triggered by extreme poverty.

Accused Munni Devi, 23, of Banga in SBS Nagar, is native of Assam. She killed her daughters — Neha, 3, and Meena, 1, by drowning in a pond here.

As per police, the woman failed to commit suicide as the branch broke when she tried to hang herself with her dupatta.

Police have arrested the accused, on complaint of a brick kiln worker Harjinder Singh, who had witnessed the crime. Inquiry officer, Sadar station house officer (SHO) Lakhvir Singh said that eyewitness Harjinder Singh, of Banga, informed that he spotted the accused when fell from the tree while trying to hang herself.

“I immediately stopped her from taking the extreme step. But she told me that she has already killed her daughters after drowning them in the pond, nearby,” Harjinder told the police.

The SHO said, during interrogation, the woman confessed to her crime and said that she came to Phagwara from Banga in a bus and took the step due to poverty.

Also, her husband had left her after a fight, a few days back.

“As per the accused’s statement, her husband had left the house last week as he did not like their daughters,”said inquiry officer. “She said that it was difficult to make both ends meet, due to which she took the extreme step,” the inquiry officer added.

SP Parminder Singh Bhandal said, ”She told us that her husband, Mukhal Kumar, of Tejpur in Assam, had come to Punjab for employment three years back. Both were working as farm labourers.”

A case under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against her. Bodies of the children were sent to the civil hospital for postmortem.

“We are investigating the matter. Also, we are tracing her husband and other members of family to handover the bodies of the children,” said the SP.