Woman, her daughter drown in temple pond

Nurpur, November 21

Two women reportedly drowned in a pond at Murdal Mata temple of Hatli Jawalan village near here this afternoon.

The deceased were identified as Sunita Devi, 56, of Dari in Dharamsala and her daughter Seema Devi, 26, of Nalti-Bhattu in Palampur.

As per information, Sunita along with her daughter and son Suresh Kumar had come to the temple for her married daughter’s “holy dip” in the pond. It is believed that after the dip in the temple pond, a married woman is blessed with a child. Seema slipped while entering the pond and when her mother jumped in to save her, she too drowned. The duo didn’t know swimming.

When Suresh raised an alarm, locals rushed to the spot and pulled out the duo from the pond. They were taken to the Nurpur Civil Hospital where they were declared brought dead.

DSP Sahil Arora said the victims’ bodies would be handed over to their families after conducting the post-mortem tomorrow morning.

A case under Section 174 of the CrPC has been registered. The local administration has given Rs10,000 to each the bereaved families as prompt relief. — OC