A 35-year-old woman named Gulshan Khatun alias Praveen Bibi immolated herself, her husband, and two other family members in the wee hours of Saturday, May 14 in the Sapaul village of Darbhanga, Bihar. Khatun is said to have taken the extreme step as she was upset over her husband’s second marriage.
While Gulshan Khatun’s mother-in-law Zubeida Khatun and her husband’s second wife Roshan Khatun succumbed to burn injuries at the Biraul community health center, Khatun and her husband Mohd Khurshid Alam died while being taken to Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital.
According to Biraul Sub-Divisional Police Officer Manish Chandra Chaudhary, Gulshan Khatun and her husband, Mohd Khurshid Alam’s relationship became strained as she could not bear his child even after 10 years of their marriage. Alam then married Roshan Khatun (28) two years ago. Roshan Khatun recently became pregnant with Mohd Khurshid Alam’s child.
After her husband’s second marriage, Khatun grew bitter toward Roshan Khatun and her mother-in-law Zubeida Khatun for supporting her son’s second marriage.
For the last two years, Khatun had regular fights with her husband. Many a time she had warned him of dire consequences for getting married to Roshan Khatun. A day prior to the incident too, they had a massive fight. In a fit of rage, Praveen sprayed petrol on herself, her husband, her husband’s pregnant second wife, and her mother-in-law and set everyone ablaze.
The police went to the scene as soon as the incident was reported and took them all to the hospital, but could not save any of them.
