Mother, two children found dead in city
A young mother killed her two little kids, aged five and three, and then committed suicide in the capital's Darussalam yesterday, police suspect.
The motive is unclear, but it appears she may have some family grievances.
The victims are Anika, 21, her daughter Shamima and son Abdullah.
Police found Anika's body hanging from the ceiling and those of the two children lying on the bed, their throats slit open by a kitchen knife.
The door of the tin-shed house was locked from the inside, said Faruk-ul-Alam, inspector (investigation) of Darussalam Police Station.
Deaths of children at the hands of their parents have been on the rise in recent years. In the first 10 months of last year, at least 57 children were killed by their parents. In 2015, at least 40 children faced similar fate, according to Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum.
Frustrations, financial constraints, family grievances and so on sometimes play some role, but it is difficult to explain such cases and the reason behind their recent increase.
Anika's husband Shamim Hossain, who runs a barber shop in Mirpur, left home in the morning, saying he would attend the Awami League rally at Suhrawardy Udyan, friends and neighbours said.
Police found a suicide note purportedly written by Anika.
“Dear Shamim, I am going away leaving you all behind … You have taken care of everyone, but never thought about us,” the note in broken Bangla read.
She also sought to apologies for taking the lives of two “innocent” children. “Forgive us. No one is responsible for my death.”
The inspector said they suspect the note was written by Anika, but they were yet to verify it.
Police recovered a bloodstained kitchen knife from the house and also found some blood stains on Anika's hand.
Umme Salma, wife of the landlord, said the family rented their house in July 2015.
Shamim earns about Tk 700 to 800 a day from his barber shop.
“He could not pay the house rent for the last seven months but we never put pressure on them for it,” she said.
Neighbour Sheuli Begum said they never saw or heard the couple fight and that they were caring to each other and to the children.
Shamim usually leaves for work around 8:30am and returns home after 11:00pm.
Yesterday, neighbours cut a hole through the couple's tin roof when Anika did not respond to their repeated calls and knocks on the door even after the noon.
Through the hole, they saw Anika's body hanging and then called the police, who were looking for Shamim for questioning.
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