A 34-year-old woman suffered 90% burns after she poured kerosene on herself and struck a match in Malabar Hill in the wee hours on Wednesday. Her husband and two children also sustained burn injuries while try to douse the fire.
According to the police, the incident took place around 1am
on Tuesday night in a room located at Arab Lane in Simla Nagar slum area of Malabar Hill. The police said that the woman, Noorjahan, is a housewife, while her husband Gaus Gilani, 36, is a plumber. The couple has two children — daughter Mehroon, 11, and son Muzamil, 6.
At around 11pm, the couple got into an argument over Muzamil not attending tuition classes, but it soon turned ugly and their neighbours and relatives had to intervene after they heard the couple shouting at each other.
After the spat died down, or so the neighbours and relatives thought, they left the couple's house. But a few hours later, Noorjahan ran towards the kitchen area and poured kerosene on herself in a fit of rage. Before her husband or children could react or stop her, she struck a match stick and set herself ablaze, the police said.
A petrified Gilani and the two children tried to douse the fire with bare hands, and sustained burn injuries in the process.
On noticing flames leaping out of the shanty, the locals rushed into the room and managed to douse the fire that had by then engulfed all the family members. They rushed the couple and their children to Nair Hospital, where the authorities informed the police.
"The woman is in critical condition while the other three are stable. We have made a diary entry of the incident and the further course of action will be decided after the statements of the couple and the children are recorded,” said Prakash Malve, assistant police inspector of Malabar Hill police station.
“The woman has only managed to say that she did this to herself in a fit of rage," the police officer added.