India: Woman jumps in front of moving bus, hoping her death compensation would pay son’s college fee
Screengrab of the video showing the woman jump in front of the moving bus
In aheart-wrenchingincident, a woman in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu jumped in front of a moving bus and committed suicide. The woman, identified as 45-year-old Paapaathi took her own life, owing to financial troublesthat were hampering her son's education, reports claimed.
Paapaathi, a single mother, worked as a temporary sweeper at the Salem Collectorate. She had been in a financial crunch and was looking out for opportunities to pay Rs 45,000fee of her sonwho is pursuing architecture at a polytechnic college.
The Salem Town Police in its investigation found that the woman decided to jump in front of the bus after she was 'misled' by someone that her family would get compensation for her death.
"She was under severe stress and was always worrying about her children. She had taken loans to pay their fees in the past," one of Paapaathi's neighbours was quoted as saying by the Quint.
Son denies claims
While most reports claimed that Paapaathi died for the aforementioned reasons, her son refuted the claims.
"All this news about how she deliberately jumped in front of the bus to pay my fees is fake news... It is not true. I don't want to say anything more, but this is fake news," her sonRubatharantold the publication.
Although the incident took place over a month ago, the CCTV footage of the incident went viral in the last few days. The netizens, upon watching the video were disheartened and questioned what led the woman to commit such an act.
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"This is heart-wrenching! Unbelievable! Tragic beyond words," said one user, while another added, "This story is too horrifying. Education should be free for all."
A third said, "A mother had to kill herself to pay her son’s college fees. Merely 45 thousand had compelled her to destroy herself. She was a sweeper at Salem collectorate. Aren't we ashamed of ourselves? How pathetic this incident is! How poverty is dominating over humanity!"
(With inputs from agencies)
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