Britain's killer track claims more Asian women

LONDON: There has been a dramatic rise in the number of Asian women, including Indians, committing suicide on just one stretch of a railway track in west London, a train company's internal report has revealed.

The First Great Western manager's report said one third of the total such suicides in England and Wales now happen on the line passing through Southall, which has a very large Asian community and a 'disproportionately high number' of the total fatalities in the area were women of Asian origin.

Figures showed that 80 of the 240 rail suicides nationally last year were on that particular stretch of line.

A women's right group has claimed that the suicides were linked to the prevalence of domestic violence in Asian families, Daily Mail reported.

In one of the most horrific cases in 2005, a Sikh housewife, Navjeet Sidhu, 27, jumped in front of a Heathrow Express train at Southall clutching her five-year-old daughter and 23-month-old son. All three died instantly.

Six months later, Sidhu's mother Satwant Kaur killed herself at the same spot. There was no suggestion that she was abused.

An investigation later found she felt she had failed to be a good mother and homemaker.

Hannana Siddiqui, from the women's group Southall Black Sisters, claimed abuse and 'sensitive cultural issues' were at the root of the problem.

"The high instance of Asian women suicides is linked to abusive practice within Asian families," she said.

"There is a correlation between these suicides and violence in Asian homes. Psychiatric research has shown there are rarely cases of mental disorders in these cases, suggesting they are the result of social circumstances. These women are often isolated and find it hard to escape," Siddiqui said.