A 40-year-old woman burnt herself and her daughter in a village of MP’s Mhow as she did not accept her relationship with a neighbour. Santra Bai set herself ablaze and ran towards her daughter identified as Manna and then got hold of her and in the process, both of them passed away.
Mother and daughter suffered more than 70% burns and succumbed at the hospital on Thursday. Santra’s husband, Asaram met with serious burns on his upper body while attempting to save them.
Mamta’s brother Ajay told reporters that she had an affair with a local youth named Rahul for the past few years. But mother Santra was annoyed when she got to know this and would also often beat up Manta to stop her from seeing Rahul, police said. Asaram and other family members did not have any problem with Rahul and were ready for the marriage.
Everything was okayish until Rahul’s family came to Mamta’s house to talk about marriage and it was when the arguments started. Badgonda cops said a case has been filed and the deceased bodies have been handed over to the family after autopsy.
It has been learnt that Santra poured kerosene on herself and also the front walls of the house. When Mamta argued with her, she allegedly didn’t hesitate to sprinkle kerosene on her too. Threatening to commit suicide, Santra locked herself in for a while but thought of coming out.
“But they did not stop fighting. Mamta was standing near the door when my mother went to a nearby ally and set herself on fire. She ran towards the house. and Mamta’s clothes also caught fire,” Ajay said. Asaram sprung into action in a bid to rescue them and drenched the flames but it was too late.
(Originally published by the Times of India)