After stealing Rs 500 for cell phone, class 5 kid self-immolates as father loses cool

Kuber Mishra would have never imagined that a mere scolding to his son could result in a disaster for his family. He learnt that his action of denying a cell phone was harsh only after losing his only young son. Avinash Kumar reports.

Kuber Mishra would have never imagined that a mere scolding to his son could result in a disaster for his family.

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He learnt that his action was harsh only after losing his only young son.

Mishra's son, Nitish Kumar alias Golu (12), a student of class 5, committed suicide by immolating himself after getting a scolding from his father.

The incident occurred on Thursday at Pasivarh village under Daraunda police station in the district. Golu wanted to have a mobile phone but he did not have the money.

Finally he stole Rs. 500 from his father and bought a second hand cell phone for himself. When his mistake came to light, his father lost his control and scolded him severely.

Mishra's intention was to mend his child's behaviour, but it worked differently. Fearing more punishment and loss of face among family and friends, Golu took the extreme step.

He doused himself with kerosene and set himself ablaze in his own room, said Mishra's neighbour, Ramandeep.

He reached the place and tried to open the room that was locked from the inside. With the help of another person, the door was broken down.

They felt the shock, when they saw Golu enveloped in flames. The boy succumbed to his injury on way to the Siwan Sadar hospital, Ramandeep added.

Talking to HT, Mishra said, he came from a lower middle class family and had toiled hard to earn money to run his family and educate his children.

He admitted that Golu was a stubborn child and had earlier jumped off the errace. Golu was earlier a student of a Gopalganj based English medium private school, but was later shifted to a Hindi medium school.

For pursuing better education of his son and daughter, Mishra had taken up a job abroad and had recently returned to his native place.

Siwan SP, Satyaveer Singh said, a case of unnatural death case had been lodged with Daraunda police station.

The exact reason behind the suicide was being probed, since no suicide note was recovered from the spot. He said, the body was handed over to his family after autopsy.