'Unable' to care for her 4-month-old daughter, woman commits suicide

Preeti Landge

Pune: A woman allegedly committed suicide as she felt she was unable to care for her four-month-old daughter. The deceased, Preeti Landge (23), is a resident of Jaihindnagar in Phursungi. A case of suicide has been registered with the Hadapsar police.

Preeti worked as a software engineer. In 2015, she married Suraj, a businessman. She had come to her maternal house in Hadapsar for the delivery and gave birth in November 2016.

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Senior inspector Vishnu Pawar said, "On March 5, Preeti left home, saying she was going to the market, and did not return. Her family found her phone switched off. They approached us. In the wee hours of Monday, we found her body in a well near her house. The post-mortem report mentioned death due to drowning."

Sub-inspector BS Dhoiphode said, "In her daughter's cradle, she had kept a letter in Marathi that said she could not be a good mother, and cursed herself, saying she was unable to take care of her daughter. Soon after the incident, her mother went into shock and was rushed to a hospital."

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Preeti's brother said, "Right from her pregnancy till now, my mother, her in-laws, and others were supporting her. But we never realised she was depressed. She complained about being unable to sleep and that she could not handle her daughter. But we told her it was a phase and would go away."

Doctorspeak
Dr Sagar Mundada, MD, Psychiatry said, "Postpartum depression is common after delivery. But very few women get treatment as there is a tendency to pass off symptoms of sadness, irritability, and the feeling of being unable to take care of the child as part of normal behaviour by the family."