A disturbing family tragedy unfolded in Banda district’s Sater village over the weekend, where a mother died by suicide and her five young daughters fled home, traveling over 1,100 kilometers before being found at Bhusawal railway station in Maharashtra.
The sequence began on June 13, when Ramraj Maurya, a migrant laborer, returned home from Surat. A day later, tensions reportedly flared within the household, culminating in a heated argument. That same evening, the couple’s five daughters whose age in between from 12 to 17 left the house without informing anyone.
On June 15, locals discovered the body of mother Guddiya Devi in a nearby field. She had ingested pesticide. Police were alerted, and an urgent search began to trace the missing children. Investigators reviewed CCTV footage from the Banda railway station ticket counter, which helped track the girls’ movement across states.
With the help of Maharashtra Police, the girls were located safely at Bhusawal station. A 48-hour effort involving inter-state coordination, railway alerts, and surveillance monitoring led to their rescue.
The children are now in the custody of child welfare officials, who will provide counselling and assess their immediate needs.
The incident has cast a spotlight on recurring domestic unrest in migrant worker families across Bundelkhand. According to district data, at least 19 suicide cases since January 2025 have been linked to household disputes in similar settings.
