Bihar: 15-year-old boy married to widowed sister-in-law kills self

Police sources said Mahadev Kumar Das, a Class IX student and resident of Vinobanagar village in Gaya, committed suicide less than three days after his marriage with Ruby Devi.

Kumar Das, a Class IX student and resident of Vinobanagar village in Gaya, committed suicide less than three days after his marriage with Ruby Devi (Representational Image)

A 15-year-old boy committed suicide Wednesday, two days after he was married to his widowed sister-in-law who was 10 years older than him, police said. Police sources said Mahadev Kumar Das, a Class IX student and resident of Vinobanagar village in Gaya, committed suicide less than three days after his marriage with Ruby Devi (25).

Mahadev’s elder brother and Ruby’s husband, Santosh Kumar Das, was electrocuted in 2013. Tekari DSP Manish Kumar said: “Although no suicide note was found, the boy’s neighbours said he had resisted his family members but was forced to marry his sister-in-law. It is a case of child marriage and abetment to suicide.”

“Mahadev always treated his sister-in-law like his mother. It was the Rs 80,000 compensation money that became the bone of contention between Ruby’s parents and her in-laws,” a police officer said. Santosh died of electrocution while working in a shop, so the family got a compensation of Rs 80,000. Ruby’s parents wanted the entire compensation amount to be given to her. But Ruby’s father-in-law Chandeshwar Das, who had given Rs 27,000 of Rs 80,000 to them, had worked out a compromise formula of marrying off Ruby and Mahadev.

The police said the boy never wanted to marry his sister-in-law but buckled under family pressure. A case has been lodged against the boy’s parents.

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