Minor tribal couple found hanging after denied marriage due to same gotra

They appeared to have taken this step after their families allegedly refused to let them marry, as they belonged to the same gotra (lineage), added the police.

A tribal couple — the boy and girl both aged 17 — allegedly committed suicide on Sunday afternoon by hanging themselves from the same noose in Jharkhand’s Jamshedpur, police said on Monday.

They appeared to have taken this step after their families allegedly refused to let them marry, as they belonged to the same gotra (lineage), added the police. This happened under Swargchhira under Dumaria police station.

“It’s a love affair. Both were minors and were in love with each other for the past one-and-a-half years. Their families had a meeting, but they refused to marry them off as both belonged to the same gotra. Among tribals, people with the same gotra are not allowed to marry each other. We have lodged a case of unnatural deaths,” said Karam Pal Bhakat, Dumaria PS officer-in-charge (OC).

As per available information, people spotted the boy and girl hanging by the same noose (made with a sari) from a banyan tree near Swargchhira on the banks of Pedidarho river on Sunday afternoon. She wore a petticoat and a frock. He wore shorts and a blue T-shirt. The police suspect that the couple had committed suicide some time on Saturday night.

The boy was from Baliyadipa tollah in Kharida village, the girl was from Kalimati. The police have seized a mobile, a packet of tobacco and slippers of both the deceased from the site. On Saturday, the girl had gone to the river for bathing and the youth had reached there, too. Investigators found the remains of a bonfire there, an indication that the couple stayed there at night and started a bonfire because it was cold.

One more suicide

In yet another incident, a 14-year-old girl committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan in her maternal grandmother’s house, in Dahigora under Ghatsila PS, on Sunday. The girl was in Class VIII at Baldev Das Santlal Charity Trust Sarswati Vidya Mandir. Her parents lived in Kolkata.

The police recovered a diary from her school bag that revealed she was in love with a young man — his mobile numbers and name were in the diary. She, however, didn’t write anything about suicide or its possible reasons or provocations. “We’re still investigating,” said Ghatsila police station OC Ram Kumar Verma.