When Rumena Khatun of Nobiganj upazila in Habiganj district married sharecropper Farid Uddin a few years ago, together they shared the dreams of a better life. Soon their family got bigger and they were living happily.
But as their daughter Muslima, 7, and Musa, 4, started growing up, things began to change. They began to feel that whatever they had was probably enough for the two of them, but now that their family had got bigger, they needed much more.
Sharecropper Farid’s limited income was nowhere near what Rumena needed to fulfil her dreams. Inevitably, discontent and disagreements ensued and the couple would often get locked in furious altercations.
Soon, this became a daily thing and Rumena could not take the pressure anymore and on the night of March 21, 2015, she threw her two children into the pond near their house, saw them drown and then hanged herself to a nearby tree.
According to Prof Kazi Saifuddin, teacher of psychology at Jagannath University, this happens when people fall into deep depression from a long lasting sense of deprivation.
In recent times, there have been several reports of people killing their children or loved ones and then committing suicide themselves.
Last week, a man named Abdul Gani of Chokoria in Cox’s Bazar killed his three children Saraban Tahura, 2, Nure Jannat Shiuli, 8, and Ayesha Siddiqa, 10. News reports said that the killings were results of family conflicts.
Prof Nehal Karim, who teaches sociology at Dhaka University, said that financial problems, addiction and illiteracy have been weakening family ties, resulting in family conflicts.
There cannot be one single solution this, the professor said, adding that raising awareness, bringing stability back to the society, better law and order situation and ensuring capital punishment for those who committed similar crimes in the past could reduce the incidence.
On May 18, police recovered the bodies of a couple in their house at Hazaribagh in Dhaka. The wife, Umme Ara Iffat, was from a rich family but the husband, Rasel, was from a poor background.
The first few days of their married life went quite peacefully but things started worsening after Iffat’s rich father gave Rasel Tk3 lakh for doing business and he wasted all the money. That gave rise to an everlasting fight between the two. One night, Rasel slaughtered Iffat and then hanged himself.
Prof Ziaur Rahman, chairman of the Criminology Department at Dhaka University, said that married partners need to be able to share the conjugal successes as well failures. When one refuses to do that, things fall apart. Sometimes, drug addiction emerges as a major reason behind deadly family conflicts.
In 2010, the government enacted a law to curb family conflicts and give protection to the victims.
Monirul Islam, a joint commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said laws are there to stop criminals from coming crimes.
“But when a father or a mother kill their children, it is not just a matter of putting laws into effect. There are always social reasons behind such incidents. We need to find out the social reason in order to stop these incidents from happening,” Monirul said.
