A teenage couple – a Garo girl and a Muslim boy – attempted suicide for their unfulfilled love by consuming poison.
While the girl hailed from Tikrikilla in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya, the boy hails from Bhimkoch near Jaleswar of Lower Assam’s Goalpara district.
The attempt led to the death of the girl leaving the boy in a serious condition in Goalpara civil hospital.
According to police, 17-year-old Jalilur Khan (name changed) of West Goalpara grew a love affair for the last three years with Ara, a Garo girl from Bolbokgiri village under Tikrikilla police station.
Abdul Barek, the father of the boy had an intimate friendship with B. Sangma, the father of the deceased girl and both of them opposed the couple’s love affair because of the difference of their religions.
This left the couple in deep frustration.
On Tuesday, Jalilur met the girl near her residence and decided to end their lives. They took shelter in a nearby hill and consumed together poisonous liquid.
With a presumption of death, Jalilur called his friend Azad (name changed) of Gaibandha village in Jaleswar, which is within 30 km and told him in details about the incident.
Azad hurriedly reached the spot and took both of them to a primary health centre of Jaleswar at about 2 am.
However, the doctor declared Ara, the girl dead and referred Jalilur immediately in a critical condition to Goalpara civil hospital.
The body of the girl was then kept at Jalilur’s house.
“We have recovered the body of the girl from the residence of Abdul Barek as per a phone call received on Wednesday morning at 8 am,” informed Sarbesh Ali, in-charge of Jaleswar outpost in Goalpara district.
“We took the body for conducting post-mortem and then handed over the girl’s body to the family after the conducting postmortem,” he added.
The incident left the people of both the religions in a shock and they prayed for both them.