“I really can’t understand how my life turned out like this and how I landed up here. We were 4 children – 3 daughters and a son; and I was the youngest child in the family. A capable little girl loved by everybody. Others used to say that I was a pretty girl with a charming personality. Life was a blessing and I enjoyed all the opportunities I was provided with. I completed Std 10 and my parents wanted me to marry my uncle’s son. He was an alcoholic and my parents said that after the marriage he would become better. With a lot of hope I got married to him. But things turned out to be contrary to my hopes; he became worse and started to borrow money for drinking. Every evening he would return home fully drunk and he would beat me mercilessly. I would report this to my parents, and they would talk to him, but he was not receptive to any advice. He continued and I was in utter confusion as to what to do with my life. When my son was born, I decided to keep aside all my worries and I wanted to live for my son. Every time he called me ‘Amma’, he brightened my life.
But things didn’t get any better with my husband. He was neither looking after our son nor me. Many times, I thought of ending both our lives, but my conscience would not permit me every time I looked at my son’s face. As time went on, he started to beat me more and more. One evening as I was feeding my child, my husband returned home and started to argue with me. He started beating me and I couldn’t bear the pain. When he was beating me, I pushed him down with all my strength, he fell down and collapsed at once. Seeing him thus I ran to my neighbours and informed them of this. They took me to the police station and reported to them, but they were engaged with other cases. By the time the police came to our house, my husband was found dead. I was arrested with my son and sent to prison.
Sr Lini Sheeja MSC
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