Poverty-stricken Assam woman drowns two daughters, attempts suicide in Punjab

The woman told police her husband left the house as he did not like their daughters. It was difficult to make both ends meet due to which she tried to commit suicide.

A 23-year-old migrant woman allegedly killed her two minor daughters and attempted suicide by hanging herself from a tree in Kishanpura village of Punjab’s Phagwara, police said.

The woman drowned her two daughters in a pond and then tried to hang herself. (HT Photo / Representational)

According to police, Munni Devi, who lives in Banga in SBS Nagar and is a native of Assam, killed her daughters — Neha, 3, and Meena, 1, by drowning them in a pond on Sunday. They said the woman failed to commit suicide as the branch broke when she tried to hang herself with her dupatta.

“She told us that her husband, Mukhal Kumar of Tezpur in Assam, had come to Punjab for employment three years back. Both were working as farm labourers,” superintendent of police (SP) Parminder Singh Bhandal said.

Devi was arrested on the complaint of a brick kiln worker Harjinder Singh, who told the police he spotted her after she fell from the tree while trying to hang herself, Sadar station house officer (SHO) Lakhvir Singh said.

“I immediately stopped her from taking the extreme step. But she told me that she has already killed her daughters after drowning them in the pond nearby,” Harjinder told the police.

According to the SHO, the woman confessed to her crime during interrogation and said she came to Phagwara from Banga on a bus and took the step due to poverty. She added her husband had left her after a fight a few days ago.

Devi has been charged with the murder of her two daughters.

“We are investigating the matter. Also, we are tracing her husband and other family members to hand over the bodies of the children,” the SP said.

The bodies of the children have been sent to the civil hospital for a post-mortem.