Ignoring family’s pleas, woman jumps to death in Tardeo

A newly married 20-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide in Tardeo early Friday morning. (Representational Image)

A newly married 20-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide in Tardeo early Friday morning. She jumped off the 13th floor of the building where she lived with her husband and in-laws after sitting on a ledge for several minutes, police said. Chhaya Bhutia was declared dead at 4.17 am after plunging down 13 storeys. The polcie said she was declared dead after being rushed to Nair Hospital. Chhaya had married Kailash Bhutia in February and moved into his parents’ home on the ninth floor of Ganesh Building in M P Mills Compound in Tardeo, the police said.

The police said Chhaya had woken up at 3.30 am on Friday and gone to the bathroom in the one-room home. When she did not come out for several minutes, her father-in-law knocked on the door. An officer at Tardeo police station said her father-in-law broke open the door when there was no response from Chhaya. “But when he opened the door, she not was inside. He immediately called the police,” said Mahendra More (35), a neighbour of the Bhutia family. Inspector Jayendra Sawant of Tardeo police station said Chhaya had removed the windowpanes of the bathroom and climbed onto a bamboo scaffolding outside. “She climbed up to the 13th floor and sat on a half-foot-wide ledge there,” he said.

Building residents said Chhaya’s mother-in-law came out of the building and tried to reason with her, appealing to her to come down even as the police and fire brigade looked for a way to rescue Chhaya from the precarious position. “The police came to my home and looked outside my window. They were looking for a way to stop the girl from falling down but they could not reach beyond the grill,” said a resident of flat 1309. The police said Chhaya ignored her family’s frantic pleas and jumped off. “All I heard was a loud scream and then saw the woman hit the ground,” said Vikas Mishra, a watchman at Ganesh Building who had woken up for his early morning shift.

A post-mortem examination will be conducted at Nair Hospital, the police said. Inspector Sawant said the police would speak to Chhaya’s family after her body is cremated.“The deceased did not leave behind a suicide note,” he said, adding that the motive was yet to be established. The Bhutia family, who hail from Gujarat, lived in a slum in M P Mills Compound before the Slum Rehabilitation Authority constructed multi-storey towers there a decade ago. Neighbours said Kailash’s parents sell utensils in exchange for clothes while he works with a local co-operative bank. “They are good people. We have never heard anyone fighting in their home. The couple had married recently and there did not appear to be any problems between them,” said More.