A 15-year-old boy committed suicide in Bihar’s Gaya district on Monday soon after he was forced to marry his elder brother’s widow, who is 10 years older to him, PTI reported on Thursday. The police arrested the boy’s father Chandreshwar Das and the woman’s parents for abetment of suicide and child marriage.
The boy, a Class 9 student, hanged himself in his house in Ramna Vinobanagar village, two hours after the wedding formalities were completed at a temple.
His brother Satish Das and sister-in-law Ruby were married since 2009 and had two children. Das, an electrician, died in 2013 of an electric shock. After his death, his employer gave his family compensation of Rs 80,000, the police said.
“When Ruby and her parents put pressure on Chandreshwar to give her the money, he transferred Rs 27,000 in her account,” a police officer said. “However, they insisted that he part with the remaining sum as well, and if he was not able to do so, he get the widow married to his youngest son.”
The boy’s father accepted the demand and got the 15-year-old married to Ruby. “The young teenager apparently was traumatised by the experience, and he took the drastic step soon after,” the police said.
“My daughter-in-law and her parents were mounting pressure on me to transfer the amount to Ruby’s account,” the boy’s father told the Hindustan Times. “They kept on exerting pressure on me to either give the money or marry my son to Ruby.”
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