Woman kills son and hangs self, blames mother-in law

PUNE: A police constable’s wife smothered her son to death eight days before his second birthday and hanged herself in wee hours of Saturday in a two-storied building in Hadapsar because she could not bear with the cruelty meted out to her by her mother-in-law.




The deceased woman, Janhavi Kamble, lived with her in-laws at Tilekar Vasti on Magarpatta Road. Her son, Shivansh, was born on December 30, 2016. She killed her son and ended her life between 1am and 1.30am on Saturday.

Senior inspector Sunil Tambe, the Hadapsar police station in-charge, said the victim in her two-page suicide note in Marathi held her mother-in-law, Sujata Kamble (55), responsible for her death. “But she praised her husband, Amit Kamble, posted at the Hadapsar police station, for loving her,” he said.

Sujata was later arrested for subjecting Janhavi to cruelty and abetting her suicide. She would be produced before a magisterial court on Sunday. Her husband, Dattatraya, was detained for questioning but was released later.

The victim’s cousin, Vicky Jagtap, a final year BA student, said, “Amit and his family stood by Sujata. He and his father have police background. We don’t want the case to be investigated by the local police because we will never get justice. The case should be transferred to the crime branch.”

Janhavi, also from Tilekar Vasti, tied the knot with Amit in 2014 and started living with him in the joint family.

Tambe said, “Sujata started harassing Janhavi over not meeting dowry demands and not treating her family with respect at the time of the latter’s marriage. She taunted Janhavi for coming from a poor family, forced her to work hard and passed unwanted remarks on her. She made her life miserable over not cooking food properly among other domestic issues.”

He said, “Janhavi tried to counsel her thinking that Sujata would change, but in vain. Janhavi then complained to her parents that her mother-in-law was physically and mentally harassing her over trivial issues. But things did not change.”

Tambe said, “Sujata on Friday night picked up a dispute with Janhavi because her parents attended a relative’s marriage in Chinchwad. She told Janhavi that her parents did not deserve to attend functions because they did not have status in the society.”

Within a few hours, Janhavi smothered Shivansh to death with a pillow in the bedroom and used a sari to hang herself from the ceiling fan. “After returning home from night shift, constable Amit found his wife and son dead at 5.15am. He alerted assistant inspector Prasad Lonare about the incident who then shared the information with his superiors,” he said.

He said the Sassoon hospital in its advance post-mortem report certified that Janhavi died due to hanging and preserved the viscera of her son for seeking expert opinion. The duo’s funeral was performed in Hadapsar on Saturday evening.

Janhavi in her suicide note sought forgiveness from Amit for killing Shivansh. She felt that Amit won’t be able to maintain their son and face problems in the future.

Amit has two brothers, while Janhavi has an elder sister. Her father is a compounder.

Janhavi’s uncle, Vishwas Kamble, a painting labourer, said, “Sujata never allowed my niece to attend family functions. We tried to talk to her, but she misbehaved with us and asked us to leave her house.”

Vicky, the victim’s cousin, said, “Sujata used to tell Janhavi that she had brought her free of cost and she should live life like a chappal (shoe). She also harassed her whenever her son cried on feeling hungry. She would not allow my sister to use cellphone. Whenever Janhavi would make a call, her mother-in-law would check call details.”

Janhavi’s another cousin, Santosh Jagtap, a housekeeping supervisor, said, “Few minutes before the incident, Janhavi called her father and asked him to take her home. Her father assured her that he would take her home on Saturday morning, but she ended her life before that.”