Twelve hours after they were evicted from Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Puducherry following a Supreme Court order, three members of family, who have been long time residents of the Ashram committed suicide by jumping into the sea. Arunashree (50), Rajashree (45) and their mother Shanthi Devi (65) jumped into the Bay of Bengal early Thursday morning and their bodies were washed ashore after three hours.
Four other members of the family, Gadhadhar Prasad (70), his daughters Jayashree (54), Nivedita (42) and Hemalatha (40), who had also attempted suicide, were saved by local fishermen who saw them struggling for life in the seashore. They have been admitted to Puducherry Government General Hospital in a critical condition.
The Prasad family have been inmates of Sri Aurobindo Ashram for quite some time. But relations between the family members and the Ashram took to worse following the formers’ allegations of sexual abuse against some of the Ashram officials. It all started in 2000 and culminated in the Supreme Court order of December 9 which asked the sisters to leave the Ashram premises within seven days.
Wednesday saw Hemalatha, the youngest of the sisters, threatening to commit suicide by jumping from the water tank on the terrace of the four-storied building while the others trying to hang themselves to death. Timely intervention of the police saved the situation and the sisters were brought out of the Ashram premises. But an adamant looking Hemalatha had told reporters that the family has no other option but to commit suicide as they have no source of income. “We will not budge from this stand and even if we are driven out to the streets, we will commit suicide in the Bay of Bengal,” Helamatha had declared.
The suicides led to activists from various Tamil chauvinist organisations staging demonstrations and pelting stones at the Ashram. “Many irregularities have been levelled against the ashram in the past. All is not well with this institution,” said M Ilango, president, Thanthai Periyar Dravida Kazhagam.
Former MlA Ilango who heads the National Fishermen’s Federation also said the activities going on inside Ashram need closer scrutiny by the authorities. “There were many cases of murder and cheating against the Ashram in the past,” he said.