‘Had frequent fights over kids’

The tiffs between Noorjahan and her husband Gaus Gilani were frequent, but none of the neighbours suspected they would reach such a level.

In fact, they had become such a routine that the neighbours had stopped intervening. "Fights are a common affair in slums. Noorjahan and her husband used to fight every day over some issue or the other. The issue would mostly have something to do with the children. While Gaus is short-tempered and would often start shouting at the children. Noorjahan would intervene and had to then face the wrath," said Sayyed, a relative who stays in the same locality.

On Tuesday too, the couple started fighting over why their son Muzamil was not going for tuitions. When Gaus started beating the child, Noorjahan intervened and was thrashed by Gaus. "They used to fight every day. However, we never thought that Noorjahan would take such an extreme step. She had often told us that on some days her husband would just pick on her for the smallest of reasons," said Yasmin Shaikh, Noorjahan's neighbour.

On seeing flames coming out of the house, the neighbours rushed to see what had happened. No one had anticipated that the small fight between the couple would turn so ugly. "The couple and the children were wrapped in flames and we first doused the fire and then rushed them to the hospital," said Dinesh Vaghela, who resides in the same area.