"Dear Father...I Am Committing Suicide So That You Don't Have To, To Get Me Married"

An 18-year-old Sarika Suresh Jutey from Jawlajuta village of Pathri tehsil, Maharashtra had allegedly committed suicide to ‘save’ her father from ending his life because of excessive debts, the Dainik Bhaskar reports.

Sarika hailed from a family of farmers in the Marathwada area of the state. Her father had taken loans for his land but the crops had got burnt, as a result, he was not in a situation to pay off his debts. To aggravate the situation, the area did not see any rainfall in the recent past.

The condition of her father was evident in front of Sarika. The twelfth standard student was feeling scared and restless after her uncle had also committed suicide owing to massive debts.

In her suicide note, Sarika had written that she was aware of the condition in which they were living. Her father had married off Sarika’s elder sister last year – the debts taken for the dowry has not been cleared off yet. Sarika did not wish to be a burden for her father who was in no position to marry her with a dowry.

She decided to take away her own life, thinking that it would at least prevent her father from meeting the same fate as her uncle.

Speaking to The Logical Indian, the police said, “The post mortem reports are not yet out, and an investigation is ongoing in this case. However, the suicide note says that the girl had hung herself to death to save her father’s life who is under the pressure of a massive debt. The suicide of her uncle a few days back might have affected her.”

The Logical Indian take

Agriculture in India accounts for 50% of the workforce. Though it is an industry which has lost its GDP-share in the past decades, it remains the backbone of the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

Farmers’ suicides in India rose by 42% in the last few years. Since 1995, over 3 lakh farmers have committed suicide. At the same time, the number of farmers in India fell by 9 million, which makes the spike in deaths all the more alarming.

Maharashtra is the hotbed for farmers’ suicides, closely followed by Telangana and Karnataka. States are also accused of giving false information and covering up evidence so that actual numbers will be much higher.

8 in 10 farmer suicides are due to debts or loans from banks. On an average, agricultural households make Rs 6426 and spend Rs 6223 every month. Farmers can barely feed their families; repaying loans is a far-fetched dream for them.

The Logical Indian community, through this incident, wishes to re emphasise on the plight of the farmers and how much they are ignored by the concerned authorities. It is heart-rending to see an 18-year-old ending her life in the fear that if she lives to get married, her father will face immense troubles in bearing the costs because of his massive debts and will eventually commit suicide himself.