Durgapur, June 4: A 23-year-old nurse committed suicide in Durgapur on Tuesday night after her wedding fell through because of her dark complexion.

Ratna Banerjee worked as a trainee nurse in a private hospital in Durgapur and was from a well-off farmers’ family in Ausgram, Burdwan.

Her wedding had been fixed with a teacher from Birbhum. The date was June 1. But a week before the wedding, the groom’s family returned the dowry of Rs 80,000, saying the girl was “too dark”, Ratna’s elder brother Tubai said.

His sister hanged herself a day after what would have been her wedding date.

“The groom’s family came to our house last week to return the money. Ratna was at home then. She broke down. We tried hard but could not find a groom for my sister because of her complexion,” Tubai sobbed.

Ratna had faced marriage rejections more than once, her colleague and flat-mate in Durgapur said. “She once told me she had grown up facing taunts from schoolmates who called her Ma Kali. She also said that one after another her marriage negotiations were falling through because she was dark,” the nurse said on condition of anonymity. She was polite and an introvert.

Last Tuesday, Ratna was on morning shift. “Ratna was on day shift and she returned home after 8pm on Tuesday. I was on night shift so I left for the hospital around 9pm. When I returned home yesterday morning, the door was locked from inside. I did not get any response after ringing the door bell for 10 minutes, so I called the hospital,” the colleague said.

Some group-D staff of the hospital and other nurses rushed to the house in the Bidhannagar area of Durgapur and started banging on the door, but in vain.

The hospital authorities then called police who broke in.

Ratna was hanging from a ceiling fan. She had left a note in her diary that the police later confirmed was in her handwriting.

“The note said she chose to commit suicide to free her parents and elder brother from worrying about her marriage. She also mentioned that the groom’s family cancelled the marriage because of her dark complexion,” said Aniruddha Sarkar, the officer-in-charge of New Township police station.