Beat marshals save woman from committing suicide

Once again, beat marshals emerged as saviours in Navi Mumbai after they saved a woman, who had hanged herself with a tree in Kharghar on Wednesday night. The woman tried to commit suicide due to a financial problem that cropped up after the lockdown was imposed across the country.

Last month, two beat marshals had saved a woman who tried to commit suicide in a locked house in Ulwe.

The ongoing lockdown has severely impacted the income of many households and is now forcing some people to take extreme steps.

The 26-year-old woman, a native of Nepal took the extreme step after a brief argument with his husband over the financial problems that have cropped up amid the ongoing lockdown on Wednesday night at sector 5 in Kharghar.

API Manish Kolhatkar from Kharghar police station said, “Had beat marshals not reached the place in time and brought down the woman, who had hanged herself from a tree in sector 5 in Kharghar, she would have died.” The beat marshals are police constable Sunil Ambhure and police constable Satish Makasare.

According to police, the husband of the woman works as a security guard at a church at sector 5 in Kharghar. He also used to wash car and bikes of visitors and made extra money. However, after the lockdown was imposed, the work of vehicle cleaning was stopped and this impacted their income severely. In addition, they had given Rs 10,000 to a person whom they knew, but that money too was not coming by. With limited income, they were not able to make ends meet.

“They wanted to go back to their home town, but due to the lockdown, they had no option but to stay back in the city,” he said.

On Wednesday night around 8.30 pm, they had an argument over money while having dinner. “The woman left the home with her two and half years old son. When she did not return, the husband began searching for her,” said Kolhatkar. The family has two children, a six-year-old and another two and half years old.

Around 200 meters away, there is an open area behind the church with some trees. The woman walked at that direction and tried to hang herself from a tree, using her dupatta. However, a man who watched her, alerted a passerby. “Since there is a complete lockdown, there was no one on the road except the beat marshals who were fortunately crossing from there,” said Kolhatkar. He added that they immediately ran towards there and pulled down the woman and administered CPR. Meanwhile the husband too arrived there with his younger son.

The woman regained consciousness in half-an-hour and narrated her problem to the police. “We brought them to the police station and counselled them. We also provided them with groceries and asked them to contact if they need any further help,” said Kolhatkar.

Pradip Tidar, senior police inspector from Kharghar police station felicitated the two cops.