Rajshahi: Debt and gambling behind a family’s death
A tragedy of poverty and gambling addiction lies in a father's decision to take his own life after killing his wife and two children. In a statement, Minarul Islam mentions “debt and hunger”. This tragedy is like several others that have occurred in recent weeks. Investigators have opened a case to shed light on the organisation that lent the man money.
Rajshahi (AsiaNews) – “I can’t bear this suffering anymore. Better to die than live. No one should be humiliated for my sake.”
These are the last words of Minarul Islam, 35, a farmer from Bamanshikar, Rajshahi, a village near the Ganges, whose body was found hanged in his home on 15 August.
Beside him lay the bodies of his wife, Monira Khatun, 30, his son, Mahim, 14, and his daughter, Mithila, four. Mahim was an eighth-grade student at Khadkhari High School, full of dreams that can now never come true.
The tragedy casts a dark shadow over the village. Shocked and grieving, neighbours gathered in silence, unable to comprehend the loss of an entire family to despair.
The pain was not only personal, but collective. It was a wound that pierced the heart of a society that failed to listen.
A two-page handwritten note found near the bodies reveal the unbearable weight Minarul carried in his heart.
“We died because of debt and hunger,” he wrote. “I didn’t want my children to suffer anymore. I didn’t want my father to beg for us. I killed them with my own hands, so they wouldn’t have to live in pain.”
His words speak of a man crushed by poverty and humiliation. He had seen his dignity erode, his family suffer, and his hope fade.
In his final act, he tried to protect his loved ones from a future he believed held only pain. This is not just a personal tragedy; it is a mirror that reflects our society.
How many other Minarul live among us, silently battling hunger, debt, and shame? How many cries remain unheard? This incident is not isolated. Just three days earlier, a mother and daughter took their lives in Comilla, Chittagong Division.
In June, a couple in Natore and a young man in Cox’s Bazar died under the pressure of loans. Last year, a mother in Munshiganj killed her two children before committing suicide, unable to pay her debts.
These are not just statistics. These are stories of shattered lives, of people crushed by the weight of poverty and humiliation. Every incident is a warning. Hunger, debt, and mental stress cannot be measured in isolation, because they slowly destroy the lives of people at all levels of society.
After receiving the news, police from the Motihar station and investigators recovered the bodies and sent them to Rajshahi Medical College for an autopsy.
Investigators believe Minarul strangled his wife and children before taking his own life. A note was found in the room where his body was hanging. Family members confirmed it was written by him.
Minarul’s sister Nazma said, “My brother died because he couldn’t pay the NGO loan instalment.” She could not name the organisation. His father, Rustam Ali, broke down in tears.
“I sold land to pay off his loan. I didn’t know he was in debt again. I would have helped. I can’t accept that he left like this,” he said.
For Syed Ali Morshed, chairman of the local Parishad Union, “Minarul used to gamble with cards. He got into debt and could not repay it. He was a farmer, but had no way out.”
Rajshahi City Police Commissioner Mohammad Abu Sufian visited the crime scene.
“It appears the wife and daughter were strangled. The son too. Minarul then committed suicide. We will confirm after investigation and autopsy,” he said. “The note mentions financial problems. We will investigate why he chose this path.”
Munshi Israil Hossain, professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Rajshahi, called the incident a painful reflection of the decline of social values.
“Small-scale gambling has always existed in villages, but now online gambling is spreading among youth. If poverty and debt are the reasons, lending institutions must be held accountable. Were borrowers’ repayment capacities verified? Or were they lured into loans with false promises?”
For analysts and scholars, this tragedy is not just one man's desperation, but the silence of a society incapable of action. It involves systems that trap the poor in vicious cycles of debt. It is about the shame that forces people to suffer in silence until they can no longer bear it.
Let this not be another forgotten story. Let Minarul’s final words awaken our conscience. Hunger wounds the body, but humiliation destroys the soul. Let us stand beside those in pain – before it is too late. Because life, no matter how broken, is always worth saving – if only someone is there to help carry the weight.
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23/09/2022 19:23
