A woman and her children tried to commit suicide setting themselves on fire by pouring kerosene at the Jatiya Press Club premises in the capital on Saturday being failed to get justice to save her home.

Shirin Akter, wife of Junayed Ahmed Khan from Rupganj area in Narayanganj, built a house purchasing a piece of land at Barfa area in Narayanganj some eight years ago. She has been living there with her sick husband, daughter and son.

But, there are allegations that a local Awami League leader named Hannan has constantly been putting pressure on Shirin and her family to leave the house. Hannan’s pressure has gone up to such an extent that he is not allowing Shirin to enter the house. Finding no solution to the incident, Shirin Akter, 35, along with her children–Shamima Akter, 16, and Zahir Khan, 10 — came in front of Jatiya Press Club on Saturday morning and then tried to commit suicide.

“Hannan has long been putting pressure on me to leave the house. He even filed a case against me and threatened me. He is now allowing me to enter my house over the last two months,” Shirin said. “My husband has long been sick. Being unable to tolerate such a pain, he left us. I sought cooperation from local people and administration. Hannan told me not to go my house any more and hand him over the land deeds.”

Abdul Momin, sub-inspector of Shahbagh Police Station, said police rescued them and admitted them to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

Shirin got frustrated after failing to get justice from the authorities in her locality, he said.

Shirin and her three children swallowed sleeping pills before pouring kerosene on their bodies in front of the Jatiya Press Club, he added.