PANCHTHAR, June 6: Foreign employment, family disintegration, betrayal by partners and many other social and psychological reasons have been affecting a growing number of families. In addition to that, depression among people is triggering domestic violence and crime, police claims. Reflecting on some incidents in the last few months including the infamous Miklajung murder case call for serious intervention on the issue, they warn.

We have come across many husbands who have tried to murder their wives right after coming back from abroad, just because they have heard something wrong about their wives from others. They don't even try to clear their doubts before attacking their wives. - DSP Narendra Kunwar, chief of district police, Panchthar

DSP Narendra Kunwar, chief of district police, Panchthar warned that if appropriate measures are not taken to 'bring the society back on track', crime cases in families might increase. "Of late, we have handled many such cases wherein family members attacked each other mercilessly. Many factors might be contributing to the rise in such aggressive behavior in our society," he said.

Kuwar states that foreign employment has challenged family peace and stability. While couples are not being able to handle long distance relationships, members of the society are adding fuel to the fire.

"We have come across many husbands who have tried to murder their wives right after coming back from abroad, just because they have heard something wrong about their wives from others. They don't even try to clear their doubts before attacking their wives," he said.

Erosion of trust among partners is taking a severe toll on people's family life, and children are severely affected, too, according to Kunwar.

"In the recent Miklajung case, our investigation says that the incident was triggered because of a family dispute."

Due to unrest in family, the accused Man Bahadur Makhim, who was later found hanging near the crime spot, was severely depressed, preliminary investigation reports states. He had been taking medicines of depression for some time. "Our investigation shows that there had been serious fights in the family, one after the other. Tensions were found to have always been high in the family. This culminated in a very gruesome ending," Kunwar said.

Citing ongoing investigations, the police said that at this they have not ruled out the involvement of any second accomplice in the murder. "We were told by his neighbors that Makhim would always talk very pessimistic. He would always say he could not earn, lost his family, not happy with his life and so on," Kunwar said.

Deceased Makhim was a returnee migrant worker. His wife had filed for a divorce. He had tried to persuade his wife from not pulling back the case, but she persisted.

"This case caught everyone's attention because of its gruesome ending and media coverage. But it would not be an exaggeration to say that such kinds of tensions are getting common in families whose members are or were in foreign employment," said Kuwar. "Instead of solving the problem through legal means, people are committing crimes. And this is happening due to psychological reasons," he added.

Six months ago, Indra Mala Chemjong of Fagunanda Rural Municipality was found murdered. After a lengthy investigation, police concluded that no one but her husband killed her. "When one is full of jealousy or a sense of betrayal, one turns violent. But due to the lack of awareness or lack of education and inability to handle the matter in the right way, people are resorting to violent means," Kunwar stated.

At Tumbewa Rural Municipality, another horrible case had taken place a few months ago. A daughter had slit her father's throat with a sharp knife. The father, who was a lawyer, had some dispute with the daughter. "Long-running tension in the family seemed to have made the girl commit heinous crimes. A lack of timely treatment and counselling for resolving the disputes seems to led to a disastrous end," Kuwar noted.

Police stations in the district have reported that they receive maximum cases of domestic violence. Most of these cases are related to property ownership, relationship, financial transactions. "And those are happening due to the lack of trust between husband and wife, brother and sister," Kunwar stated.

Police generally sends quarrelling couples home counselling the work on their differences. However, this does not help in most of the cases. According to locals, when the police refuse to file a lawsuit stating that 'husband and wife's dispute is nothing, it often takes them to a dangerous point, locals said.Kuwar meanwhile stated that police always tries to make couples realize that it is good to compromise. "However, in cases where there is a serious difference, we look into the matter the same way," he said. On an average, a dozen of severe crime cases are registered in the district in a month, according to the police record.

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• family
 
• feuds
 
• depression
 
• crimes