Humiliated girl burns herself

Even as the two senior women came to blows, an embarrassed Nirmala ran in and doused herself with kerosene and set herself afire. Her screams interrupted the brawl outside and neighbours rushed to her rescue. She was taken to a private hospital nearby with 38 per cent burns. It was later learnt that Laxmibai’s son Raviraj was in love with Nirmala and despite warnings by friend had decided to confess his love. His friend Balu told Express Newsline that Raviraj had been trying to find a way to communicate his feelings to Nirmala for three months. In fact, the letter too was written a couple of days back. As luck would have it on Wednesday Raviraj’s mother Laxmibai discovered the letter which he had kept in the pocket of his jeans when she picked it up for washing.

Police have registered an offence of abetment of suicide against the Ahire family and booked Laxmibai and her husband Raghunath. Police are still on the lookout forRaviraj, who is absconding. But Laxmibai is unrepentant. "My son is a simple boy. This must be a part of a plan to ensnare him." She went to the extent of saying that Nirmala’s action proved that she was guilty. "If she had nothing to hide, why did she not fight out the matter?" she asked. It is Raghunath, her husband, who seems to have taken Nirmala’s suicide attempt very badly. "She is a beautiful child and often comes to our house with stuff cooked at her home," he says before adding fatalistically, "after all how long can you run from what is written in your destiny?"