HYDERABAD: Children have long been paying the price for disputes between their parents for several reasons. There have been many instances in the recent past, when a parent decides to commit suicide and also ends up killing his/her children. The most recent case being that of the Sanathnagar murder in Hyderabad, where a man killed his wife and son. Another incident was the murder at Siddipet a few days ago, when a woman killed her two children after continued quarrels with her husband.
Nevertheless, these are only a few incidents. Police who are investigating these cases have found that in a majority of the cases, couples are taking the extreme step of killing their children because they do not want their children to become orphans after their death.
In the Sanathnagar case, Rajesh killed his wife and son, allegedly due to the repetitive nagging from his wife so he finds a job. In Siddipet, the woman was being tortured by her husband and so decided to commit suicide. Somehow, she decided to kill her children but afterwards, could not muster the courage to end her own life.
In another gory incident from Sangareddy, a man killed his two children after his wife left him. Allegedly, the wife was unable to bear his tortures. Siddipet’s Commissioner of Police, Joel Davis, told Express that in most of these cases, a lack of family support and the aggressors’ suicidal tendencies are what lay the foundation of such gory incidents. Sometimes parents fear that their children would be abandoned after their death, he says.
In incidents where couples feel that they are tortured by their spouses, the decision to kill the children is taken to protect them from torture.DCP Balanagar PV Padmaja says that such incidents are proof that egoism is playing a spoilsport in families. “It’s like an angry person throwing an object because it cannot react. In the same way, their anger towards each other is reflected on children, who can’t resist or retaliate,” she said.
Lack of support mechanisms
K Satyavathi from Bhumika Women’s Collective says these incidents are signs of the destruction of human relations how people no longer have any respect for one’s life, family, society. Their emotions flare up even over smallissues. This is the result of increasing loneliness and lack of support mechanisms. “The only way is to stop this strengthen human relationships, especially between couples,” says Satyavathi