Mother could not take it

Nothing beats a mother’s love for her child, and that’s why the higher the stake the harder the emotional drive gets.The situation came tragically true for Nazneen Akhter, 35, a senior reporter of The Daily Janakantha.Yesterday, failing to bear the shock of her daughter’s demise, she jumped off the balcony of their fourth-floor flat in Kalyanpur. Somehow, she survived.Earlier, around 4:00pm, her six-year-old daughter Chandramukhi succumbed to liver complications at the National Paediatric Hospital. The daughter was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday.Nazneen’s friend Supriti Dhar, a freelance journalist, told The Daily Star that Nazneen had insisted on going home as soon as the doctors took her daughter off her life-support.“She [Nazneen] has been in shock since Chandramukhi was hospitalised. She stopped eating and sleeping. We were unable to hold her back at the hospital when she demanded to go home,’ said Supriti.She said she had taken Nazneen home and as soon as they entered the house Nazneen ran to the balcony and jumped from there.“I didn’t realise what was happening. I could only get hold of her dress when she took off,” Supriti said, adding, “Hadn’t there been electric cables to break her fall, she would be dead.”Nazneen was immediately rushed to Suhrawardy hospital and then shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where she is now undergoing treatment.“She sustained fractures in her shoulder blade, pelvis, right arm, fingers and two ribs,” said Nazmul Hakim, a doctor of the DMCH emergency ward who had attended Nazneen.She might also have injured her spine as she was unable to move her legs, said the doctor,  adding that Nazneen also sustained minor injuries in the head.Obaidur Kabir, chief reporter of Janakantha, told The Daily Star that Nazneen was still capable of coherent speech.Friend Supriti feels Nazneen should be given counselling after her treatment to ensure that she does not make any more suicide attempts.“She should have been given counselling when her daughter was sick,” added Supriti.Nazneen’s friends and colleagues stated that her husband Rakibul Islam, chief reporter of Gazi television, had also been insisting on going home with Nazneen. He was left behind in the hospital for some paperwork.Rakibul was conducting the funeral rites of their daughter when this   report was filed around 12:00am.Supriti feels that he too needs counselling from a professional psychiatrist.