Obeying mother’s parting words, 7-year-old did not inform anyone about suicide

Pavneet Singh Chadha

Tribune News Service

Mohali, April 21

“Before dying, she told me to take care and not to inform anyone. I wanted to honour the commitment,” says Armaan Singh (7), while fiddling with a mobile phone at the Mataur police station, seemingly unfazed by the commotion of the police and the media around him.

On Friday evening, decomposed body Armaan’s mother, Jaspinder Kaur’s (35), was found hanging from a ceiling fan at their rented accommodation in Phase VII by the police, four days after she allegedly committed suicide. Foul smell had started emanating from the house.

For four days, as his mother’s lifeless body remained suspended from the ceiling, a part of her decaying skin peeling, Armaan, a Class III student, failing to understand the reality, paid heed to his mother’s parting words, telling people who knocked at the door that his mother was not at home.

He ate biscuits, ice cream, chips and played games on a mobile phone, opting to sleep on a couch, adjacent to her. He even disconnected phone calls of relatives.

Some neighbours, alarmed by the repulsive smell, alerted the police on Friday evening, who arrived at the house to find the boy with his dead mother. The police handed over the boy, who had studied at a boarding school in Shimla, to the victim’s in-laws, who arrived here from Ferozepur on Saturday morning.

Family in shock

Jaspinder’s family, natives of Boparai village, Jagraon, Ludhiana, expressed shock and disbelief, saying  the victim had no reason to commit suicide. Baljit Singh, her younger brother, who last spoke to her over the phone on Sunday, said, “She was going to Canada on April 19 with her son for vacation on a tourist visa. She had even purchased garments worth Rs 25,000 and was looking forward for settling abroad.” The relatives said Jaspinder, who worked as a nurse at a private hospital in Mohali, had moved here after marrying Ranjit Singh, a BSF jawan, posted in Faridkot, in 2007.

Suicide note recovered

Sub-Inspector Rajiv Kumar, SHO, Mataur police station said the victim left a suicide note, claiming that she was upset and no one was responsible for the extreme step. 

Was second bid 

• The police said it had emerged in investigation that the victim had attempted suicide earlier too. 
• A police official said though it was a suicide, they were investigating all angles, including if an extra-marital affair could have been the reason behind the incident.
• A post-mortem of the victim could not be conducted on Saturday as the police were waiting for her husband to reach Mohali.