Pahadi Korwa tribal couple and two children die by suicide in Chhattisgarh

Four of a family belonging to the protected tribal community of Chattisgarh allegedly committed suicide. Police are investigating the case.

Jashpur:A couple and their two children of the Pahadi Korwa tribal community allegedly committed suicide by hanging in Chattisgarh's Jashpur under Bagicha police station area. Police are suspecting that the couple first killed and hanged their children. Then, they ended their lives by hanging themselves to death. The local people found the four bodies hanging from a guava tree near Jhumra Doomar Basti of Samhar Bahar village. The reason behind the alleged suicide is yet to be ascertained, police said.

On getting information from villagers, police reached the spot and sent the bodies for post-mortem. The deceased couple and their two children lived in Jhumradumar. Local people said the deceased had recently gone into a dispute with their neighbour over collection of mahua flower in the adjacent forest area. Police said the matter was being probed. The people of the neighbourhood are currently being questioned.

Pahadi Korwa, one of the 42 tribes in Chattisagarh, is a protected tribe known as the adopted sons of the President. The tribe has a dwindling population and lives in the dense forests located in the north and north-east parts of the state, namely in Surguja, Barampur and Jashpur areas. Livelihood of the Pahadi Korwa tribe is completely dependent on forests. They have a strange custom wherein whenever anyone dies in their family, the rest of the members leave that house and start living elsewhere. They cook in earthen pots and survive mostly on fruits and tubers collected from forests. Of the 42 tribes, seven are protected and declared as Special Backward Tribe.