Twenty-four-year-old M. Sabina Begum of Madurai fell in love with and married J. Sheik Ibrahim of Coimbatore a little over two years ago with the hope that her life would be better. But little did she realise that her life would be cut short.
She was found hanging at her residence on Gandhipuram Second Street on Tuesday night. Her family alleged that Begum did not commit suicide and that she was murdered. The All-Woman Police Station – Coimbatore East has registered a case based on a complaint from Begum’s father U. Mohammed Ali and has asked the Revenue Divisional Officer, Coimbatore, to conduct an investigation as the woman was married for under seven years.
Begum’s father Mr. Ali, who stayed with her and worked at a restaurant in Gandhipuram, said that when he returned home after work on Tuesday night, he found her room locked. His son-in-law J. Sheik Ibrahim was with her in the room and so were his two grandchildren – the elder aged two years and the younger eight months.
He could hear his grandchildren cry. After knocking the locked door for around half-an-hour, his son-in-law walked out stating that Begum had committed suicide. And, he found his daughter hanging from the room in a saree. Begum’s brother Saddam Hussein told journalists that his sister had called earlier in the evening crying that she was being harassed and her nose was bleeding.
Hussein’s cousin Nagoor Gani said that he had called Begum to offer words of comfort but she sounded depressed. The AWPS Inspector in-charge S. Rajeswari said that they had registered a case of suspicious death. If the post-mortem report and the RDO’s inquiry report revealed that the woman was beaten to death, the police would alter the case to include the appropriate sections.
