Tuesday, 14 May 2013

Pregnant Indian commits suicide 'live' on webcam
~~By VM Sathish
Seetha Laxmi
The Indian community in Bahrain is appalled after a five-month-pregnant woman hailing from Tamil Nadu reportedly committed suicide in Manama, recording her last moments on a web camera and informing her husband that she is going to end her life.

English and vernacular newspapers from the island nation have reported that Seetha Laxmi (28), an Indian hailing from Salem in Tamil Nadu, was found hanging from her apartment in Gudaiba area near Al Osra, Manama, the capital of Bahrain.

The suicide victim was reportedly five months pregnant when she ended her life.

According to reports, the young lady used to work as a beautician, and recorded her suicide on a webcam on her laptop. The webcam video was in recording mode while she hanged herself from the ceiling fan, reports state.

On Monday morning at around 10am, the lady tried to call her husband, Vinod, who works for a construction company in Bahrain, and when she could not reach him on the phone, she called the beauty salon located in a three-star hotel where she used to work and informed her colleagues that she is going to end her life.

“The suicide has been apparently recorded on the camera connected to a computer kept in the room. After the salon staff alerted her husband about the strange phone call from his wife, he rushed to the flat and found her hanging from the fan ceiling. Last year, a suicide by an Indian worker, in a public park caused a heated debate about the suicide issue affecting the Indian community. The number of suicides has been going up in Bahrain. There are many cases reported in the media and this pregnant lady’s suicide has caused panic in the community. The worst part is that she has recorded her death on a web camera,” said Shyam Kumar, an Indian executive in Manama.

She came to Manama about a year ago. Bahrain Daily Tribune reported that the dead body will be flown to India and an autopsy will be done there. 24PM Newspaper from Manama said quoting her husband that he called his wife after leaving home and when she did not pick up her call, he rushed home to find her hanging from the ceiling fan.

She had recorded her messages to her husband, whom she reported loved too much, but could not return his love, according to writings on the room call. The Bahrain police have seized the laptop that recorded her suicide and the room where the incident happened.

The family shared a flat with another Indian family, according to 24PM Malayalam news. Seetha Laxmi hails from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu and the family sharing the room is quoted as saying that the husband was taking care of the pregnant woman. The door was locked from inside and had to be broke open.

Bahrain’s Indian community has been baffled by a spate of suicides and various community associations have been campaigning against the evil that affected many middle class and working class expatriates. Indian Ambassador to Bahrain, Balakrishna Shetty, was quote d as saying that the number of Indians committing suicide in Bahrain has been on the rise and that it was a matter of concern to the Indian mission there. The Ambassador was quoted by the Gulf Daily News as saying earlier that: “It is a matter of some concern and we need to handle it and not ignore it.”

Courtesy: Emirates 24x7