DUBLIN: The death in Dublin of Seema Banu and her children has come as a shock. Though Garda says that it is only after a postmortem that, it is possible to determine whether it was a murder or a suicide, the possibility of murder is suspected.
The ‘Irish Samachar’ had come to know that Seema Banu had been tortured every moment since coming from India to Ireland in February. Seema had to endure her husband’s mental and physical assault.
Seema Banu was admitted to a Dublin hospital in May after being brutally beaten. The deceased was taken to an ambulance and her husband, who sent her to the hospital, informed that she had seizure. However, it is learned that there was an attempt to strangle her.
She could speak only two languages – Kannada and Hindi, and there was no one to help her in the hospital. The doctors sought the help of some of the people who understood her language in order to treat her.
She did not even own a mobile phone. Perhaps she lived a completely isolated life. When they arrived from India in February, they were not even able to make contact with their neighbours because of COVID-19 situation.
The children were the ones who suffered the most. They were enrolled in a school in Ballinteer, but was only able to attend school on nominal days. Someday, six-year – old Fazan was going out to play ball with the children in the house next door when he was bored at home. Only during that time that the neighbours could see him.
Seema Banu said earlier that her husband did not like her, and that he always finds fault in everything.When some people told her to file a complaint to Tusla (Child and Family Agency), she responded that “then I would not have to live!”
She had said that he was constantly abusing her and her children, but did not know what to do.
There is no doubt that Seema Banu and her children are victims of a major crisis facing a section of economic migrants arriving in Ireland.
There was no one to help them. They did not know who to call for help. The boundaries of language raised a huge wall of strangeness around them.
Most of the immigrants from Asia to Ireland are from India, like Seema Banu. Most of them work in the IT and healthcare sectors. Their contributions to the health and information technology sectors of this country should definitely be appreciated.
The death of Seema Banu and her children reminds us of the strong message that we must give priority to programs that address the problems faced by the families of such people arriving in Ireland through family reunification and hold them within the national mainstream.