A labourer from Tripura was abused and humiliated by his daughter and wife for buying an ordinary mobile phone. A 45-year-old Sukumar Bhowmik was being pressurized by his 15-year-old daughter for buying an android mobile phone and he could not buy one because of the insufficient funds.
He committed suicide and hung himself in his own house in Western Tripura with the pressure of not getting an android phone for her online classes.
Krishnendu Chakraborty who is Police Chief of Sepahijala stated that Shukumar had committed suicide because he was under the pressure of buying an android phone for his daughter as she was demanding one. But he bought an ordinary phone and after bringing that phone home his daughter was not satisfied and so was his wife. So, they fought with Shukumar regarding the phone and the daughter refused to take the mobile.
Whereas Shukumar was trying to relax his wife and daughter telling them the truth that he was short on money to buy an android phone. But they did not give it a thought. After having a word with his relatives, they said that due to extra pressure from his wife and daughter and also the way his daughter not only rejected but threw the new phone had made him feel very humiliated. And that was the reason he committed suicide on Wednesday.
One of the close relatives of Sukumar named Manika Bhowmik also said that “Sukumar was not able to earn anything because of the pandemic in the whole nation and the cause was COVID-19. He was already looking after his family including his wife and three children which were a tough job for him as a daily labourer.
In Assam, an accident took place whereas a 15-year-old boy suicided in Western Assam’s Chirang district due to failing in online examination as he did not have a smartphone which is quite similar to the Sukumar case. The boy was studying in class ten at Tukrajhar High School and was living in Salbari village. A police officer in Guwahati stated, “the boy was supposed to attend the online classes which have been started after the COVID-19 situation”.
The Mukhyamantri Yuba Yogayog Yojana has started a scheme of giving Rs 5000 each to 14,608 students from the Final semester who are Undergraduate for buying mobile phones. This was announced by Tripura’s Education and Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath, they also added that the cell phones are helping the students to obtain knowledge, look for employment opportunities, study and have made easier way for them to grasp things.