Mother kills 3-year-old daughter, self in Jawhar

A 30-year-old tribal woman killed her three-year-old daughter before ending her own life in Jawhar, Palghar district, on Wednesday. Police have posthumously charged

A 30-year-old tribal woman killed her three-year-old daughter before ending her own life in Jawhar, Palghar district, on Wednesday. Police have posthumously charged the woman with murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and are investigating further.

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Appasaheb Lengare, inspector, Jawhar police station, said that while they have not confirmed the motive for the murder-suicide, they suspect that poverty may have been the reason.

According to police, the woman lived in a hut in Dera gaon in Jawhar with her husband, a daily-wage worker, and their two daughters aged three and seven. She and her younger daughter were missing since June 22.

“Since the lockdown, the husband was unable to earn a livelihood. He was also an alcoholic,” said Lengare. “We were informed by the sarpanch that the two bodies were found near a hill, a kilometre from the woman’s hut by some tribals who had gone to collect firewood,” he added.

Police have sent the bodies for post mortem to the Jawhar rural hospital and are awaiting the report.

Meanwhile, ex-MLA Vivek Pandit, president of pro-tribal outfit Shramjeevi Sanghatana, who is also the chairman of the state government-appointed committee to review tribal welfare schemes, said that there was a dire need for the government to provide help to tribals during the Covid-19 lockdown. “On March 17, I had informed the government that tribals and farm labourers would die of starvation instead of Covid-19,” said Pandit.

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