Dowry harassment: 28-year-old woman in Telangana allegedly commits suicide after stifling children
Hyderabad: A 28-year-old woman is suspected to have hanged herself to death after strangulating her two young children, including a 10-month-old son, at the woman’s in-laws’ house Gollagudem village near Bibinagar on Monday night.
The deceased are identified as Aishwarya, who had married Mahesh Yadav, a railway track maintenance worker in Gollagudem in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, four years ago, and their children, two-year-old Janaki and 10-month-old son Pandu.
A police case has been registered, but no arrest has been made yet.
According to a report by Times of India, the death was allegedly the outcome of dowry harassment, although B Ravindar, Bhuvanagiri Deputy Superintendent of Police, has said that it is yet to be ascertained if the children were strangulated by their mother.
Aishwarya’s family has said that, following compatibility issues with Mahesh allegedly due to dowry harassment, Aishwarya, along with her children, had returned to her parents’ home in Vemulakonda one-and-a-half years ago. The couple started living together again once a round of intervention by seniors.
On Monday evening, after Aishwarya’s relatives dropped her and the children to Yadav’s house, her husband left for work at night. On Tuesday morning, however, as neither Aishwarya nor the children came out of the bedroom, her mother-in-law Sathyamma forced open the bedroom door, only to find her daughter-in-law and grandchildren lying dead.
A death note was found in the bedroom, with Aishwarya accusing her husband and his parents of harassing her for dowry and thereby forcing her to take the extreme step.
Aishwarya’s father Yadaiah, who filed a police complaint, has said that he had given Yadav and his family Rs 30 lakh during their marriage, in spite of which, his daughter was harassed for more money.
The bodies of Aishwarya and her children were handed over to her relatives after completion of the post-mortem.
(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the state’s health helpline 104, Tele-MANAS 14416.)
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Hyderabad retired professor in coma left without pension; family struggles to pay Rs 25 lakh bills
Hyderabad: A 64-year-old retired professor from Osmania University, Mohammad Ansari, is battling for life in a coma while his family struggles to meet mounting medical expenses due to an unresolved pension dispute.
According to The Times of India, Prof. Ansari, a former linguistics teacher, fell critically ill about 10 days ago due to kidney and lung complications and slipped into a coma.
His family has already spent nearly Rs 25 lakh on treatment, with daily hospital expenses ranging between Rs 30,000 and 40,000.
"We have spent about Rs 25 lakh so far. The hospital is charging between Rs 30,000 and Rs 40,000 daily. We don't have any money left. We can only afford a rehabilitation centre," said Fayyaz Ansari, brother of the retired Osmania University professor. He said that his brother had been running from pillar to post since 1996 to clear the anomalies in his service, but failed in his efforts.
Though he began working with the university in 1997 as part-time faculty and later became regular staff, the university reportedly agreed to consider his pension eligibility only from 2003, which he contested.
The family claims that despite court directions and intervention by an Assembly committee, the university did not recognise his service from 1996 for pension benefits.
"Despite selection, he was not given joining orders. He was forced to work as a part-time faculty. In 2003, after approaching the minority commission, the HC and the assembly, he finally got orders to join as full-time faculty," Fayyaz said.
Incidentally, even the LIC-linked pension, which was offered to those not eligible under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), was denied to him despite premiums being deducted for close to 15 years on the grounds that he already has OPS. The total amount paid towards the pension was returned in 2018.
Students and well-wishers have begun crowdfunding to support his treatment. Members of the Osmania University Students’ Joint Action (JAC) Committee urged authorities to intervene and release his pending benefits or arrange financial assistance.
The issue was also raised in the Assembly by CPI MLA Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao.
However, university officials maintain that pension from 1996 cannot be granted. Registrar G. Naresh Reddy said, "He was not on the varsity rolls then. How can it be considered? In fact, this issue was placed before the executive council and the govt multiple times and it was rejected."
He said that when it comes to the LIC-linked pension, it is the govt that has kept it in abeyance and that, along with Ansari, 10 other faculty members, who joined between 2001 and 2004, were waiting for it to be resolved.
