<i>Sad tales of two mothers</i>

4 July 2009, 17:00 PM

Star National Desk

A mentally disturbed mother yesterday committed suicide after trying to kill her two children by hacking with sharp weapons at Shibrampur in Magura town. In Nilphamari, a mother committed suicide on Friday night as remorse haunted her for months after her daughter committed suicide following reproach for wanting food. Our Magura Corres-pondent reports: Tahera Khatun, 40, mother of three children, left her husband's house in Shalikha upazila a few years ago and began to live at his father Hashem Ali's Shibrampur house as she was suffering from mental disease, police said quoting family members. The woman hacked her daughter Popy, 8, and son Antor, 10, when they were sleeping in her room in the early hours of Saturday. Hearing screams of the children, locals rushed to the spot and took them to Magura Sadar Hospital in a critical condition. Meantime, Tahera committed suicide by hanging herself from a tree. Police recovered her body yesterday morning. Lalita Rani, 40, wife of day labourer Sanatan Roy of Ramnagar village of Nilphamari Sadar upazila, lost her mental balance as she held herself responsible for the death of her daughter Lata Rani, 12, who committed suicide seven months ago, according our correspondent. Lata Rani, a student of class six of a local school, wanted food before going to school but her mother, failing to give food, rebuked her as her poor father could not earn enough the day before to buy rice for the family. Lata went to school and returned duly but she did not touch the food that her mother had managed somehow. She closed the door of her room and committed suicide by hanging herself with a rope from the roof. Overcome by remorse and guilt complex, Lalita Rani became mentally ill and finally committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling of her house on Friday night.