Patna: A girl in Bihar penned an emotional message expressing her last wish shortly before she committed suicide by jumping in front of a speeding train — for her body to be cremated in front of the house of her fiance.
The girl allegedly took her life to teach a lesson to the boy’s family who were demanding a heavy dowry.
Reports said Manisha Kumari, daughter of Suresh Pandey from the Inglish village in northern Bihar’s Siwan district, was engaged to Aashish Dube from the Majhwali village in the same district.
Family members said the groom’s side had initially sought a dowry of Rs300,000, which the girl’s side paid. But very soon, the boy’s side began demanding Rs200,000 more. They even threatened to cancel the wedding if the girl’s family failed to pay up soon.
The extra dowry demand left the girl’s side scrambling to arrange for the rest of the amount. But the developments left a deep scar on the girl, a postgraduate student from a reputed school in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, who had been suffering from depression.
Eventually, she decided to commit suicide by jumping in front of the Barauni-Lucknow Express on Wednesday evening. Before ending her life, she wrote a suicide note to her family.
In the note, she charged the boy’s side with instigating her to commit suicide and asked her parents to cremate her body before the house of her betrothed to ensure that society knew how the groom’s family treated them and to make sure that stern action is taken against the culprits.
The government railway police recovered her body along with her diary and mobile phone from the spot and further investigations are on.
This is the first time that a girl in Bihar has taken such extreme measures to make sure that the culprits get punished.
The incident is in sharp contrast to the move of a Muslim girl Fatima Firdausi, from the Munger district, who in October last year refused to marry a boy after his family sought a hefty dowry of Rs1 million to solemnise the marriage. After the news made headlines in local newspapers, the groom’s family relented and agreed to let the two get married without the dowry.
