Farmer's daughter commits suicide for want of money, Shiv Sena blames Fadnavis

The Shiv Sena has once again hit out at the Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra, this time over the suicide of a 16-year-old girl.

In its mouthpiece Saamana, the party has blamed the government for the suicide of Swati Pitale, a class 11 student and daughter of a farmer from Latur. The girl committed suicide allegedly because her parents could not afford a bus pass worth Rs 260 for her commute between home and college.

The editorial questions how Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis could spend Rs 8 lakh for a dance troop to Bangkok at a time when farmers, and even their children, are committing suicide.

The money for the dance troop was reportedly part of the Chief Minister drought relief fund.

In her suicide note, the girl purportedly said she could no longer suffer the plight of her father and did not want to cast on him the additional burden of her marriage. Through her note, she also urged bank officials and money lenders not to harrass her father as he would return the dues after her sister's marriage.

The girl, Swati Vitthal Pitale, took the extreme step on October 14 when her father had gone to neighbouring Karnataka in search of work. She was a student of Class XI Mahatma Phule Junior College, Kingaon and resident of Jadhala village in Chakur tehsil.

Police said they found a suicide note in which the girl left a message to bank officials and private money lenders from whom her father had borrowed saying: "Please do not bother my father. He is honest and will return your money after my sister's marriage."

The suicide note said that she could not attend college for a week as her monthly bus pass had expired and her parents did not have money to renew it.

After a week, her mother borrowed money from a neighbour to renew her pass which cost Rs 260. She went to college, but was disturbed as she had missed many classes and her exams were approaching, the note said.

Assistant Police Inspector Satyawan Hakke said, "On October 14, the girl went to her farm with two of her friends. She engaged her friends in another corner of the farm and went into the hut where her father had kept leftover pesticides and consumed it."

"She was rushed to the local hospital and then transferred to Latur hospital. But she died during treatment the next day," he said.