SRINAGAR: A father-son duo suffered severe burn injuries after the man allegedly set himself and his child on fire in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, police said.
This a rare incident in the Muslim-majority region where otherwise the suicide rate has increased.
Parvez Ahmad Dar sprinkled kerosene on his five-year-old son, Sahil, and set him afire at their house in Dooru village of Tangmarg.
He later set himself on fire too.
Both of them suffered severe burn injuries and were shifted to SMHS hospital here for treatment, a police spokesman said.
“It was not immediately known what prompted Dar to take such an extreme step,” the spokesman said, adding police has registered a case and started investigations.
Meanwhile, a 35-year-old woman attempted suicide by setting herself ablaze in Kupwara district of north Kashmir last night.
The woman used kerosene oil in the self-immolation bid at her Haji Node residence in Karnah sector of Kupwara district, the spokesman said adding she was hospitalised.
Suicide is a taboo subject in the devoutly Muslim state, so many suicide deaths are never reported.
But the few figures available offer an insight into the darkest corner of Kashmir’s psyche.
Research from the Psychiatric Diseases Hospital says Kashmir’s suicide rate has increased 40-fold since militancy broke out over two decades ago.
Before 1989, Kashmir’s suicide rate was 0.5 per 100,000 people.
