A 40-year-old out-of-work labourer hanged himself on Thursday evening out of “shame” because he was unable to feed his family of six, his wife told reporters on Friday.
Rambha Devi said husband Vijay Bahadur, a resident of Rajapurwa in Kanpur district left unemployed by the lockdown, had run out of money two weeks ago.
“He was suffering because he couldn’t provide us food. He had been repeating for the past few days that it was a matter of shame for him,” she said.
Rambha Devi said she had been somehow feeding the family, which includes four young children — by borrowing from relatives.
“Three days ago, my husband had gone to the construction site in the city where he used to work as a day labourer before the lockdown,” she said.
“The contractor gave him Rs 100 but expressed his inability to provide him with work.”
Rambha Devi said she had stepped out with the children to seek “some help” from the neighbours when Vijay hanged himself at home with a sari. “I saw him hanging after returning home. I took him to hospital with the help of our neighbours but the doctors declared him dead,” she said.
Rambha Devi said she had tried to seek employment as a domestic help “but the people in nearby colonies said they had sacked their maids and didn’t need any as long as there was fear of the coronavirus”.
“I tried to sell my silver jewellery but the shops were closed. The shopkeepers said they wouldn’t risk buying anything during the lockdown,” she said.
Neighbours who had gathered at the house said they would have helped Vijay had they realised his condition.
“We all are in deep trouble; still we would have helped him had he told us openly about his condition,” said Vivek Kumar, a labourer.
Kaushal Kishore, officer in charge of the local Kakadeo police station, said: “We handed the body over to the family after the post-mortem. Vijay committed suicide.”
Rambha Devi now has sons Shivam, Shubham and Ravi and daughter Anuskha to feed. The children are between five and 12 years old.