Honour killing: Two months after husband hacked to death, wife ends life in Chennai

CHENNAI: Less than two months since the honour killing of her husband in Pallikaranai, his wife, 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 (April 22) night.

On February 24, Sharmila's elder brother acted on the series of threats since the couple's self-respect marriage in October last year by joining hands with another gang who were waiting to exact revenge on the victim and murdered Praveen.

"She read the post-mortem report and was disturbed by the descriptions in it. When the accused's side 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 (22) and daughter-in-law, Sharmila within two months.

On April 12, Sharmila's brother, D Dinesh had moved bail before the Prinicipal district judge, Chengelpet when police allegedly did not turn up to oppose the bail.

"In SC/ST act cases, the chargesheet should be filed within 60 days and until then accused won't be given bail. In this case, even before the mandated 60 days, the accused had moved for bail, which had disturbed the victim's wife, " said Varun, an advocate representing Praveen's family.

Two days after her brother moved for bail, on April 14, Sharmila had attempted suicide.

"She told she was changing clothes. But, when it took a look a long time, I sensed something was amiss and when we barged inside the room, she was hanging," Chitra recalled.

The family members moved Sharmila to a private hospital nearby and then to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) where she succumbed without responding to treatment on Monday night.

Pallikaranai Police have recovered a suicide note from her house in which Sharmila she alleged her parents and another brother as the reason for her taking the extreme step. "One brother (Dinesh) already took my husband away from me. Now, I will join him too, " she had written in the suicide note.

Meanwhile, in the one week she was in hospital, Sharmila's family did not reach out to enquire about her condition. Police sources said that her parents are in Tindivanam and they have been informed of the developments.

"We are not convinced with the Pallikaranai police's investigations. They have not taken any action against Sharmila's 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 original conspirators, " said G Chitra.

Family never sensed Sharmila was contemplating suicide

Since Praveen's brutal murder, his family were rallying around the young widow, Sharmila constantly checking on her and supporting her emotionally. "It was never going to be enough, but we tried. She was close to my younger sister and when she was keeping to herself, we checked on her and she shared to us about her disturbed state of mind after reading the post-mortem report, " Chitra told DT Next.

Sharmila even paid the examination fee recently in her college and was planning to continue her studies before she took the extreme step.

"After my son's death, my affection on her grew more and I was seeing her as my daughter. She used to tell me that she will learn to driver (her husband's) car. Even when she was in the hospital, i thought she would come back to life. Now, I have lost both my son and daughter-in-law, all because elders could not look past their blind hatred, " Chitra told DT Next.