A woman in Chhattisgarh's Korba district has died after she drank pesticide in a fit of rage, triggered by nothing more than her phone's internet connection cutting out while she was watching a reel. Despite being rushed for treatment, she could not survive. The incident occurred in Kerakachhar village, which falls under the Kartala police station area.
Who was the victim?
The woman who died has been identified as 52-year-old Mangalo Bai. She lived in Kerakachhar village with her husband, Premlal Sarathi, and their three children. Premlal earns a living as a daily-wage labourer, and his income is what runs the household. According to family members, Mangalo Bai had developed a very strong habit of watching reels and television serials on her mobile phone, and she would often remain absorbed in her screen for hours together, even during routine chores like meals.
A frozen reel, a smashed phone, and a locked door
On the day of the incident, at around noon, Mangalo Bai was eating her lunch while scrolling through reels on her phone, as she usually did. In the middle of this, the internet connection on her phone suddenly dropped out. She waited for quite a while, expecting the network to come back on its own, but the reel simply would not load again. Even after repeated attempts, when nothing changed on the screen, she flew into a rage. In her anger, she picked up the mobile phone and threw it down on the ground with full force, shattering it completely. Almost immediately afterwards, she walked into one of the rooms in the house and bolted the door shut from inside.
Vomiting raised suspicion, an empty pesticide container turned up
Roughly 10 minutes after she shut herself in, Mangalo Bai came back out and sat down on the veranda of the house. A little while later, she started vomiting repeatedly and could not stop. At first, the family assumed this was an ordinary bout of illness. But when the vomit began giving off a strong, chemical-like odour resembling poison, they grew alarmed and immediately went to check her room. Inside, they found an empty pesticide container. That single discovery made it clear to everyone that Mangalo Bai had consumed pesticide while she was locked inside.
Rushed to hospital, but the injuries proved fatal
Once the family realised what had happened, they did not waste a single moment; they called Dial-112 for emergency assistance and rushed Mangalo Bai straight to the Kartala health centre. Doctors there gave her first aid, but her condition continued to stay critical and showed no signs of improving. Seeing how serious her state was, doctors referred her onward to Korba Medical College Hospital for more advanced treatment. It was there, while treatment was still underway, that Mangalo Bai eventually died.
A long-running illness had already left her mentally worn down
Family members also disclosed that, quite apart from this one outburst, Mangalo Bai had for some time been struggling with an illness that caused swelling in her hands and feet. She had gone through treatment for it, yet found no real relief from the discomfort it caused. That prolonged, unresolved suffering, relatives said, had already left her mentally distressed well before this particular incident.
Psychologist warns that heavy mobile use fuels anger
Speaking about the case, psychologist Dr. Ankit Gupta said that excessive use of mobile phones can heighten anger and irritability in people, sometimes escalating into serious mental health problems. According to him, "In such situations, a person can end up causing serious harm to themselves in a fit of anger."
Taken together, the events paint a picture of a woman who was already emotionally worn down by a long-running illness, and for whom a seemingly minor disruption, her reel simply refusing to play, became the final trigger for an extreme and irreversible decision that has left her husband and three children devastated.
