Poverty pushes woman, daughter to self-immolate in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: A woman and her mentally challenged daughter died by setting themselves ablaze due to extreme poverty and dependency on others for basic needs. The incident that occurred on Sunday came to light on Monday.

According to police, Rangamma in his mid-60s, and her daughter Thimmamma (35) were staying in a house at 12th cross Magadi Road, belonging to Rangamma’s brother Rangaswamy. 

On Sunday morning, between 9.30 am and 10 am, both of them poured kerosene on themselves and set themselves on fire with an intention to end their lives. The door was shut, but their immediate neighbour noticed smoke coming out of the house and informed others in the locality. The crowd broke open the door and took both Rangamma and Thimmamma to the hospital, but it was too late to save them, the police said.

Neither of them was doing any regular work, and was forced to be dependent on neigbours and others for basic needs, including food. In addition, due to Thimmamma’s condition, she was not able to perform even basic functions. Rangamma herself had to feed her daughter, bath and clothe her. They were staying in a small 8 ft by 10 ft house. 

Though Rangswamy had provided them a house to live in, he himself, a daily-wage labourer, was poor and could not help them more. Police suspect that frustrated by her condition, Rangamma planned the act and convinced her daughter to join her.

KP Agrahara police have registered a case of unnatural death.