Pallikaranai honour killing victim’s wife kills self

CHENNAI: Less than two months since the honour killing of her husband in Pallikaranai, a 20-year-old college student died by suicide allegedly depressed over the way her husband was executed by her brother and accomplices, and the police inaction against her parents whom she believed were conspirators in the murder.

The victim, Sharmila, attempted suicide on April 14 and succumbed on Monday night.

Her elder brother D Dinesh had issued a series of threats to Sharmila and Praveen (22) since their self-respect marriage last October. On February 24, he acted on them by joining hands with another gang who were waiting to exact revenge on Praveen and murdered him.

“She read the post-mortem report and was disturbed by the descriptions in it. When the accused applied for bail, it disturbed her even more, as she thought that the police were not doing enough to bring her husband’s killer to justice,” said G Chitra, who lost her son, Praveen, and daughter-in-law, Sharmila, within two months.

On April 12, Dinesh had moved bail plea before the principal district judge, Chengalpattu, when the police allegedly did not turn up to oppose the petition. “In SC/ST Act cases, the chargesheet should be filed within 60 days, until which the accused won’t be given bail. In this case, even before the mandated 60 days, the accused moved for bail, which had disturbed Sharmila,” said Varun, an advocate representing Praveen’s family.

Two days later, on April 14, Sharmila attempted suicide. “She told me she was changing clothes. But, when it took a look a long time, I sensed something was amiss. When we barged inside the room, she was found hanging,” Chitra said.

The family rushed her to a private hospital nearby and then to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, where she succumbed on Monday night.

In the suicide note that the Pallikaranai police recovered from her house, Sharmila blamed her parents and another brother as the reason for taking the extreme step. “One brother (Dinesh) already took my husband away from me. Now, I too will join him,” she wrote in the note.

Police sources said Sharmila’s parents who are in Tindivanam were informed about her suicide attempt. But they did not enquire about her condition during the one week she was in hospital.

“We are not convinced with the Pallikaranai police’s investigations. They have not taken any action against her parents despite them even threatening her and my son in front of them several times. We demand a CB-CID probe into my son’s murder to arrest the actual conspirators,” said Chitra.