Mum kills kids, herself over affair

Mum kills kids, herself over affair

Bangladeshi police are investigating the death of a woman who jumped under a train with her four children after being reprimanded by a village court for an extramarital affair.

Ferdousi Akhter, 32, and two of her children died in the incident, but her other two children were critically injured, police in Habiganj district in north-eastern Bangladesh said.Akhter is believed to have committed suicide after a village court ordered that she be driven out of her house and ostracised from the community for having an affair with her neighbour, reports AFP, quoting local website BDNews24.com.Akhter, whose husband works in the United Arab Emirates, may have acted 'out of humiliation' as she was pregnant and had an abortion during the affair, local police chief Moinuddin Chowdhury said."It seems she took her own life on Sunday after her affair became known to her in-laws and her parents," he told AFP.A High Court has summoned Chowdhury and eight villagers, including the local council chief, to appear next Monday to answer questions on the alleged village court ruling.Village courts are legal in Bangladesh but are empowered to settle only disputes related to land ownership, inheritance and other minor issues.Source: Agencies
Published Aug 18 2011