Mumbai: Mother Murders Daughter For Dating Against Her Wishes

In a shocking incident, a 40-year-old mother strangulated her 19-year-old daughter because she was dating against her mother's wishes. The incident happened on Monday at Nathu Ganpat Chawl in Kherwadi when the mother killed the daughter after a scuffle and tried to hide the crime by saying that the daughter had an epilepsy attack. However, she was arrested on Tuesday. Read on to learn more about the incident. 

As per the reports, the mother, Tina Umesh Bagade, lived with her daughter, Bhumika, and two other children- a younger daughter and a son. The father had died a few years ago. The police said that Bhumika, a junior college student, was dating a man against her mother's wishes which led to regular fights between them. 

Details Of The Incident

On the day of the murder, the duo had a heated argument over the same issue. It escalated into a scuffle in which Bhumika allegedly bit off a part of the index finger of her mother. Enraged by this, the mother strangulated Bhumika with her hands leading to her death. She also sustained injuries on her eyebrows when she fell down. The entire incident took place in front of Bhumika's younger siblings. However, the mother had threatened them not to tell anyone. 

Then, the mother's brother who lived nearby rushed to the house and was informed by the mother that Bhumika had an epilepsy attack. Bhumika was rushed to the VN Desai hospital where doctors declared her dead. 

Soon, the police were informed about the incident. During the punchnama, the injury marks on the eyebrows and neck of Bhumika made police officials suspicious. Under zonal DCP Dixit Gedam’s supervision, ACP Suhas Kambale and senior inspector Shrimant Shinde, a team was set up for an investigation. 

“During preliminary postmortem examination, doctors told us that Bhumika died of strangulation. After this, we called Bagade and the family to the police station where Bhumika’s siblings narrated the incident. Later, Bagade confessed to the crime during sustained interrogation,” said sub-inspector Sandip Jarande. Bhumika had a history of epilepsy for which she underwent treatment in a civic hospital. 

On the instruction of Inspector Shindhe, the Nirmal Nagar police station filed an FIR against the mother and charged her under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code leading to her consequent arrest.

Why Are Parents Against Their Daughters' Dating Lives?

I read a quote this morning that suits this incident. It said that love is a union of souls and marriage is a union of bodies. In our society, marriage is celebrated with enthusiasm but love faces mourning.  

Sadly, a woman had to lose her life for exercising her freedom to choose. The fact that the murderer was her mother makes the incident even more tragic. It is very common in our society for parents to oppose their offspring's choices when it comes to dating. Especially when it comes to women, families are very strict about whom the women meet.

We live in a society where women are not allowed to talk to boys before marriage but are expected to marry a stranger. Families are more concerned about the izzat of the woman which apparently gets affected if she is linked with a man. But after marriage, no matter what happens to the woman, the families are satisfied that she is living in her 'own' house. 

But dear society, why is it so difficult to understand that women have the right to choose whom they want to love or hate? Why does love become seditious before marriage and overlooked post-marriage? Is loving someone or wanting to spend time with someone so bad that a woman must be killed for it by her own family? 

In our society, killing a daughter who is 'deviant' is preferred over facing criticism in the society. To justify the crime, it is called honour killing. But is there any honour in killing a woman for choosing what she wants in life? When will families stop seeing women as izzat and start loving them for their existence? Can't women expect even the bare minimum- love from their parents?   

Views expressed are the author's own.