UP boy kills self, wants father stuck in Kota for last rites

Harveer Dabas | TNN | Updated: Apr 14, 2020, 08:55 IST

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BIJNOR: A Class IX student hanged himself from a tree on Monday morning in Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh after scribbling a request on the bark, asking his father to bring down his body and perform the last rites. The 15-year-old’s last wish has put his poor and distraught family in a fix as his father, a tailor, is stuck in Rajasthan's Kota district, about 700km away, due to the lockdown.
Now, the family of Shakir Ahmad, who committed suicide on the outskirts of his village in Sherkot area, has appealed to the Rajasthan government to help bring his father back to the village.
The exact reason for Shakir’s suicide is not known yet. Police said that he was mentally disturbed, while the family claimed that he was normal, but under “some kind of spell” which made him take the extreme step.
Sherkot’s station house officer (SHO) Sanjay Kumar said, “Using a stone, the boy wrote on the tree’s bark that his body be taken down in presence of his father, Zulfikar Ahmad, who is in Kota right now. We couldn’t let the body hang for such a long period, so it was taken down and sent for post-mortem. Meanwhile, his family members are now trying to get permission from the Rajasthan government so that Zulfikar can attend the funeral of his son.”
A family member said that Shakir used to bring firewood from the nearby forest.
“On Monday morning, he went to the forest on his cycle. But he didn’t return. Some passerby saw him hanging and alerted everyone,” he said.