A woman and her three minor daughters were brutally beaten and then allegedly burnt to death by her husband and in-laws on the suspicion that she had stolen ornaments from her husband’s sister.


The gory incident took place at Arania village of Janadaha area in north Bihar’s Vaishali district, 30km from the district headquarters at Hajipur on Wednesday night. Vaishali SP Upendra Kumar Sinha said an FIR was registered at the Jandaha police station on the basis of the woman’s dying declaration in which she held her husband and in-laws responsible for the incident.

“All the named accused escaped soon after the incident. A search is on to nab them. This case will be recommended for a speedy trial," the SP said.

Neighbours indicated that the woman was upset over being accused of theft and torture by the in-laws and may have set herself and her children alight. However, the police are relying on her dying declaration to treat this as a case of murder. The victims, Simpi Devi and her daughters, Soni Kumari (7), Sushma (5), and Anchal Kumari (2), were killed in her father in-law Deven Singh’s house at Arania village under Janadaha police station.