Man kills 3 children, commits suicide by jumping into well due to 'financial problems' in Thar

Published September 28, 2021
The young man's relatives and villagers told local reporters that he had been upset for quite some time due to poverty. — Dawn/File
The young man's relatives and villagers told local reporters that he had been upset for quite some time due to poverty. — Dawn/File

A man threw his three minor sons into a deep well before committing suicide in the same manner in Chhachhro town of Sindh's Tharparkar district on Tuesday, according to police.

Nawal Meghwar, 25, took the extreme step because he was reportedly mentally upset due to an ongoing financial crisis, his relatives and residents of village Doonbaro, near Chhachhro, said.

The three children were aged four years, three years, and three months old.

Villagers pulled out the bodies from the well after hectic efforts, while police teams rushed to the village to probe the incident.

Meghwar's relatives and villagers told local reporters that he had been upset for quite some time due to poverty and decided to take his and his sons' lives after having failed to find any way out from the crisis.

Station House Officer Mohammad Saleem Samoon, who reached the village to examine the incident site, said police would investigate the incident from different angles.

Taking notice of the incident, Special Assistant to the Sindh Chief Minister on Human Rights Surendar Valasai directed the Tharparkar SSP to investigate the incident and submit a report.

He said if reports that Meghar took this extreme step due to inflation and joblessness were true, then "this tragic incident should be a moment of reflection for every Pakistani."

"It is the result of the selected government's economic policies that poor Pakistanis are now forced to commit suicide along with their children," Valasai added, referring to the federal government.

The incidence of suicide is particularly high in Thar, with an estimated five hundred people — mostly women and underage girls and boys — having committed suicide during the past seven years due to various reasons.

Last month, the report of a unique study had revealed that 60 per cent of suicide victims in Tharparkar were teenagers, and strongly recommended the abolition of Section 325 of the Pakistan Penal Code to decriminalise suicide.

The report titled 'Psychological autopsy of suicide cases registered in district Tharparkar' revealed that 24pc of the suicide victims already suffered from different types of mental illnesses, while only 9pc of the victims were found to be indebted.

According to the study, 60pc of the victims were in the age bracket of 10 to 20 years, 36pc were aged between 21 and 30, 9pc were found to be between 31 and 40 years of age and only 5pc of the victims were aged 41 years and above.

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