Poverty compels Parveen to take her life
The family of three often has to go days without food because of extreme poverty. They managed to collect some food last Saturday the day Parveen, the 20-year-old member of the family, committed suicide by setting herself on fire at their house at Lalbagh in the city.
"My daughter took her life failing to bear the pangs of hunger. We had some food on Thursday noon before we could manage some food on Saturday," said a grieving Rasheda Begum.
Parveen Akhter Sohagi, who also had been suffering from respiratory problems, set fire to herself after pouring kerosene over her body in their only room in the afternoon when she was alone there.
Acute financial hardship has made the lives of Parveen and her parents utterly miserable.
Continuous pressure from moneylenders, starvation for days together and failure to afford medicines for her sick parents compelled Parveen to take her life, said her relatives and neighbours.
"We hardly saw them cooking food in their house. All the three have been suffering from respiratory problems. And they did not have any stable source of income," said Laili Begum, a next door neighbour.
Parveen's father Ahmedullah Faruq, who worked at a plastic factory, has been suffering from various diseases and has been almost bedridden for the last one month. Her mother, who is also suffering from various diseases, is unable to do any work for a living.
"My daughter often complained to me that she can no longer endure such extreme poverty as moneylenders continue to pressure him to pay back money. But I failed to protect her," said Faruq, with tears rolling down his face.
"When I screamed with my chest pain, Parveen cried as she could not manage to buy medicine for me," he said.
Perveen's family owes money to most neighbours and relatives and they had none to turn to for money. They also owe money to groceries in local markets, said Perveen's neighbours.
Besides, Perveen's parents still owe Tk 20,000 to local micro-credit providing organisations. Pressure from the organisations to pay back the loans made their life miserable, the neighbours said.
Amena Begum, the owner of the house, said Parveen's family did not pay last four months' house rent amounting to Tk 5,000.
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