Daughter commits suicide as farmer father can't give dowry

Mumbai: The plight of the farmers in drought-hit parts of the state, was again highlighted after a 17-year-old college going student from Nanded committed suicide, citing her father’s inability to pay dowry for her marriage as the reason behind it.  

According to the Nanded police, Pooja Shirgire, a class 12 student of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule junior college, was living in a rented room along with her brother at Bisi village when she took the drastic step. A police official said that the brother was away at college and she was all alone when she consumed some poisonous substance on Wednesday afternoon.

The incident came to light when the owner of the room, Sultan Imam (55), knocked on the door. Pooja managed to open the door and collapsed after which Imam and some neighbours took her to a nearby hospita, where she was declared dead on arrival.

In her suicide note, the girl asked her father to forgive her. Pooja said she was taking this step as she was worried about her marriage because of his poor financial condition. She also called herself a victim of the dowry custom.

The cops will verify the reason for the suicide by speaking to her father and other family members. They will also investigate whether her father was debt-ridden. There have been many such instances of girls ending their lives in drought ridden Marathwada region due to the inability of their parents to pay for their marriage and the dowry.