KOTTAYAM: A mother and her two daughters committed suicide by standing in front of a train following a family dispute. Shiny Kuriakose (43) and her daughters Alina (11) and Ivana (10) died in Vadakara near the Ettumanoor Parolikal Nootiyonnu intersection. The incident took place near the Parolikal railway gate at around 5.30 am yesterday.

Shiny, who had been in a fight with her husband Nobi, a native of Thodupuzha Chungam, who works for an oil company in Iraq, had been living in her own house for the past 9 months. Shiny left her house with her children, saying she was going to church. The three of them got on the track and stood hugging each other. The loco pilot of the Nilambur Express said that he honked his horn without stopping, but they did not move from the track. The deceased could not be identified from the scattered bodies. The hours-long investigation was aided by the marks on the clothes. When her husband came home for holidays, he would get drunk and abuse Shiny. Unable to bear the abuse, she came to live with her parents. A complaint of domestic violence and a divorce petition have been filed against Nobi in the family court. Nobi did not allow Shiny, a B.Sc. nursing graduate, to go to work after marriage. She was supported by her siblings and parents to cover her living expenses and children's education. Her son, Edwin, is a ninth-grade student at the Sports School in Ernakulam. Alina and Ivana are students of sixth and fifth grades at the Holy Cross School in Thellakam.