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New Delhi: In a bizarre incident fueled by casteist hatred and bigotry, two members of a Gujarat family died in a mass suicide bid which they undertook as they could not come to terms with the fact that their daughter had married a man from the Dalit community.
According to the police, an elderly couple and their two sons reportedly consumed poison in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat as they were upset over their daughter’s love marriage to Dalit man. They said that the man and his one of his son died in the suicide bid while another son and the mother have been hospitalized.
“The family members decided to take the extreme step as they were not happy with the decision of the man’s daughter to marry a man of her choice, who belonged to the Dalit community, about a year back,” an official from Dholka police station told news agency PTI.
The official said that Kiran Rathod (52), his wife Neetaben (50) and their two sons Harsh (24) and Harshil (19)– residents of Dholka town– allegedly consumed a poisonous substance on Tuesday night in a bid to kill themselves.
While Kiran Rathod and his son Harsh Rathod died in the suicide bid, his wife and younger son survived the attempt and were undergoing treatment, he said.
“When the neighbours got to know about the incident, they called an ambulance and informed police. Doctors at a private hospital declared the man and his elder son brought dead, while the woman and the younger son are undergoing treatment,” the official said.
An FIR has been registered against 18 people, including the in-laws of Rathod’s daughter, on charges of abetment of suicide and an investigation is underway, he said.
(With PTI inputs)
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