India: Toss of a coin saves life of 12-year-old boy in Bihar
Boy survives while parents jump in front of running train
Patna: A last minute toss of a coin has helped save the life of a 12-year-old boy in Bihar.
Deepak Kumar Sah, 36, and his wife left their home in Muzaffarpur district on Tuesday determined to end their lives after a fight. They took their son, 12-year-old son Prince Kumar, saying he would not be able to survive without them.
Sah, who ran a betel shop in Mumbai, had returned to his family after the lockdown following financial losses. Police said the loss in the business caused tension in the family as the couple would always quarrel.
The couple and the boy rushed to a railway track on the Samastipur-Muzaffarpur line and waited for a train to end their lives. Meanwhile, the parents decided to toss a coin to decide the fate of their son.
Sah took out a Rs1 coin from his pocket and flipped it in the air. “I don’t know what they had chosen but I heard my mother saying ‘yah bach gaya’ (he has survived). Then, my father handed me Rs30 saying: ‘Go, you need to live for now,” Prince Kumar told the police on Wednesday.
According to the boy, the parents then jumped before a running train. “First papa jumped on the track, then mummy. I ran back home crying bitterly,” Prince said.
Police said they have registered a case and started investigation. “The surviving boy has provided us all the details. We are investigating the case, but prime facie, it’s a case of suicide,” a local police official in charge of investigation, Ramnath Prasad, told the media on Wednesday.
Bihar has registered 45 per cent increase in the number of suicide cases, the highest in India. According to a report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 641 suicide cases were recorded in the state in 2019 compared to 443 in 2018. The three major factors contributing to suicide cases are family disputes, marriage-related issues and romantic relationships, according to the NCRB.