In the Sundarbans, going to work can mean entering a forest where Royal Bengal tigers live.

For many families here, that is part of everyday life. Men head into the forest to catch fish, collect crabs or gather honey, hoping to return home with enough to support their families.

Sometimes, they do not return.

Between 2016 and 2020, tiger attacks killed 67 people in the Sundarbans. Many more deaths may have gone unreported.

The women left behind after these attacks have come to be known as “tiger widows”.

Losing a husband can change everything at once. There is grief to live with, a household to run and an income that may suddenly disappear.

For some women, another cruelty follows.

They have reportedly been called “husband eaters”, blamed for their husbands’ deaths and abandoned by their own families.........

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