Bardiya, Dec. 5 -- When the Post visited the modest home of Phulani Tharu in Dakshin Bhakari village in ward 4 of Badhaiyatal Rural Municipality early Tuesday morning, the courtyard was heavy with silence. In a single week, the 58-year-old woman had lost both her husband and daughter.

"I don't know how to describe the pain of losing my daughter and my husband together. Every time I close my eyes, I see them," said Phulani, her eyes welling with tears.

Her 22-year-old daughter Anju Tharu had died by suicide in the first week of November. Overwhelmed by daughter's death, Phulani's husband Kanchha Tharu, aged 61, took the same path a few days later.

Their deaths were not sudden and impulsive acts, family members insist, but the final chap...