Mumbai: 75-year-old woman commits suicide by setting herself on fire

18 April,2014 01:05 PM IST |   |  Noorfatima Dhunvawala

A 75-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide by setting herself on fire with kerosene at her residence in Andheri on Thursday morning 


A 75-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide by setting herself on fire with kerosene at her residence in Andheri on Thursday morning.

The deceased was identified as Prakash Kaur Vaseer.

She was immediately rushed to Holy Spirit Hospital but there were no empty beds available in the hospital. The woman was then admitted to Nair Hospital with 95.1% burns. She was declared dead by the doctors at around 2 pm.

Prakash Kaur lived alone at her home. She had one daughter who is married and her husband has died. She was being treated for psychiatric illness since the last 20 years.

She was suffering from chronic depression and had attempted suicide twice before by consuming poison. On Thursday morning at 10am, right after her maid left, she took the drastic step by setting herself on fire.

A neighbour noticed a burning smell emitting from her house while he was heading for work. However, by the time he rushed inside to douse the fire, it was too late.

Requesting anonymity, a relative said, "I never thought in my worst of the dreams that she will take such a step. I came to meet her last night.

"We chatted and played cards. I gave her medicines and she was perfectly fine. She didn't even have any sort of financial problems."

Another relative of the victim, Jaljit Kaur said, "She was very depressed and did not speak too much. After the death of her five sons right after their delivery, she was battling depression and trauma for nearly two decades. She always felt that she is alone because she does not have a son."

However, the senior citizen's daughter is still in the dark about why her mother took such a drastic step.

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