INDIA: Suicide of two young girls who could face hunger and malnutrition no more

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) regarding the suicides of two young girls who had suffered extreme hunger and malnutrition for a prolonged time and could do so no more. Sundari Sardar and and Phulan Sardar, from the state of West Bengal, committed suicide after having endured several days without any food whatsoever, and years with only very little. With no hope in sight that this situation would change and that food would come there way, the young girls took their lives.

This situation is not unique. Women and men in many places in India, particularly West Bengal, live in abject poverty and face dire starvation. To overcome this, more and more are resorting to drastic measures, such as what was seen in the case of Sundari and Phulan.

The AHRC urges you to write to the authorities in West Bengal and the Nadia District and bring to their attention the plight and suicides of Sundari and Phulan. Please make them aware that the women’s situation is not unique and that abject poverty, malnutrition and starvation are leading to further suicides around the state. Government intervention and assistance is paramount if this situation is to improve.

Urgent Appeals Desk — Hunger Alert
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Location: Yamsherpur, Hogalberia, Nadia District, West Bengal, India 
Name of victim: Phulan Sardar, 16, wife of Dilip Sardar; and Sundari Sardar, 16, wife of Dilip Biswas 
Cause of death: Suicide; Malnutrition/starvation 
Place and date of death: Pulan died at her home on 12 March 2005. Sundari died at her home on 13 March 2005.

Case details:

MASUM reports that Sundari Sardar, a 16-year-old tribal girl, was married to Dilip Biswas just three months ago. Dilip was a daily labourer working at the betel cultivation. He often went out in search of additional work and income, but regularly returned home having earned nothing. As a result, Sundari and Dilip often went without food for several days at a time and both suffered extreme hunger and malnutrition because of this.

Under such circumstances, Sundari felt little hope for the future. Without food to fill her and her husband’s stomach, she knew that neither would survive. On Sunday March 13, she took perhaps what she perceived as the only way out and hung herself from the ceiling in her home. Dilip returned from work that day, at 10pm, to find his young wife suspended from the ceiling. After bringing her body down, he informed his neighbours and the police of his wife’s death.

Sundari’s mother lodged a complaint with the local police station at Hogalberia. She noted that her daughter and son-in-law had been quarrelling for the past several days over the desperate state that they were in. The shortage of food and the constant search for it, she said, was the reason for her daughter committing suicide.

A day earlier, on March 12, Phulan Sardar, another young girl from the same village took the same course of action and hung herself. Having endured a shortage of food, extreme hunger and malnutrition for so long, Phulan decided to end her predicament and take her life.

The Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) in Tehatta, Mr Anindya Narayan Biswas, when commenting on the case of Sundari said, “this is the first case of starvation I got. Last Bulbuli Paul died who was also a betel labourer (to read more on this case, please refer to HA-04-2005). Condition of betel labourer is miserable in this locality and day by day it is deteriorating. We are enquiring whether Phulan who died just ago was also a victim of starvation”.

Upon visiting the affected areas on March 14, so as to ascertain the truth of these deaths, the SDO discovered that several people were dying from starvation. People explained that they had no or insufficient means of survival and that they were receiving no relief or assistance from the government. Under such conditions, the SDO learnt that the number of deaths in the area are increasing every day. When he spoke to Mangal Sarar, Phulan’s grandfather-in-law, he was informed that many villagers had written to the Gram Pradhan, village panchayet, but nobody had responded or come to their aid.

The SDO said “there are 400 people belonging to the tribal community living in this locality but out of them only four persons possess ration cards. Here, most of the people are labourers engaged with the betel cultivation. The condition of all the people is quite miserable, pathetic and wretched. Two days ago, Bulbuli Paul died due to malnutrition and lack of proper medical facilities. Then Sundari died in the prime time of her life.”

MASUM has previously reported that a lot of government welfare programmes exist throughout the country to assist, amongst others, hunger victims but due to corrupt administration, some of these programmes are futile. MASUM also states that the Food Corporation of India and the West Bengal state have granaries full of grains and foodstuffs. Despite this, endless numbers of people are going hungry and many are dying. At the very least, the issue of the ‘right to life’ of the citizens, as enshrined in the Constitution of India (Article 21) is being violated by the government who are shirking their responsibility to assist people who are literally dying from starvation.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the Chief Minister of West Bengal, District Magistrate of Nadia, and other related government officials to bring to their attention the plight and suicides of these young girls.

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