Tragedy struck the family of the acid attack victim Vinodhini again on Saturday, when her mother Saraswathi committed suicide by consuming pesticide at Thirukadayur near here. Depression over her only daughter’s death was said to be the cause.
Forty-four year old Saraswathi’s death comes a month after the Karaikal Sessions Court sentenced Suresh Kumar, the man who flung acid on her 23-year old daughter, to life imprisonment. The incident took place in November last during Vinodhini’s visit home for Deepavali. Vinodhini, who was employed in a private firm in Chennai, had succumbed to acid injuries in February after a three-month long battle in a hospital in Chennai.
Saraswathi was emotionally fragile during the trial and was seen breaking down often during her testimony.
Her depression finally got the best of her on Saturday, when she gulped down a 100-ml bottle of pesticide and ran out of her home to her husband Jayabal seated outside, urging him as well to join their daughter.
Saraswathi was rushed to a private hospital and was given a stomach wash and later brought home.
Saraswathi, who already complained of wheezing, had seizures on being brought home and was again rushed to the Karaikal Government Hospital. But, she was declared brought dead around midnight.
Speaking to The Hindu , Ramesh, Vinodhini’s cousin, who had taken up the family’s fight for justice, said Sarawathi had been depressed and had often expressed her wish to ‘join her daughter’. “She was yet to come to terms with her loss and was increasingly feeling a loss of purpose in life. I counselled her, but her depression would aggravate on Saturdays (Vinodhini was born on a Saturday) and Tuesdays (she died on a Tuesday).” Jayabal and Saraswathi had moved out of Karaikal to Thirukadayur in Nagapattinam after their daughter’s death.
