The three sisters married to three brothers were firm in their unfortunate resolve. The trio left their home together in Rajasthan’s Chapya village on May 25, walked for about 45 minutes in the blistering summer heat and jumped into a well at a farm.
The younger siblings, 20 and 23, were pregnant. The eldest, 27, was carrying her four-year-old toddler and 22-day-old infant. All five bodies were discovered by the police on Saturday.
It was the tragic death by suicide
The three sisters married to three brothers were firm in their unfortunate resolve. The trio left their home together in Rajasthan’s Chapya village on May 25, walked for about 45 minutes in the blistering summer heat and jumped into a well at a farm.
The younger siblings, 20 and 23, were pregnant. The eldest, 27, was carrying her four-year-old toddler and 22-day-old infant. All five bodies were discovered by the police on Saturday.
It was the tragic death by suicide that has laid bare the daily trauma of the three sisters from a landless household married to an affluent family with demands for dowry from impoverished parents.
The 27-year-old, who was married to Nar Singh, tried returning to her father’s house several times in the past after being beaten by her husband. She was sent back every time. Despite the torture, her father solemnised the marriages of his other two daughters with Nar Singh’s two brothers, Jagdish and Mukesh.
The 20-year-old’s WhatsApp status messages summed up their anguish and pain.
“We are leaving. Now everyone should live happily. The reason for our death is our in-laws. It’s better to die together than dying every day,” wrote the youngest of the three who wanted to join the army and loved driving bikes. “In the next life, God please give us birth together. I urge my family members not to worry about us.”
Nineteen minutes later, she updated her status with another message. “We do not want to die, but it is better to die than suffering from their (in-laws) torture,” she said. “There is no fault of our parents in this.”
Domestic violence because of dowry demands is not uncommon in India, where 19 women died on average every day due to such harassment in 2020, according to a report by the National Crime Records Bureau. There were 6,966 dowry harassment cases reported in 2020, the report said, and the year recorded nearly 10,500 cases of dowry harassment and domestic violence. A total of 7,045 women died due to domestic violence in that year.
Charges of dowry harassment
In 2018, the 27-year-old registered a case of dowry harassment and domestic violence against her husband and in-laws at the local police station, the police said. She withdrew the case after a compromise between her in-laws and her father.
A fortnight ago, she was beaten black and blue by Nar Singh, resulting in hospitalisation in Jaipur for eight days, according to family members. No police complaint was lodged, apparently because of family pressure.
“Around a fortnight back, she was beaten brutally by her husband. She could not open her eyes, and was admitted to the government hospital in Jaipur for eight days,” her father said, with tears rolling down his face. “It wasn’t the first time she was beaten.”
“Had we lodged a police complaint, my daughters would have been alive.”
The sisters’ father is a landless labourer who has six daughters and a son. His wife died some years ago after prolonged illness.
He got three daughters married in 2005 with three sons of Santosh Meena — Nar Singh (29), Jagdish (27) and Mukesh (25), who live in Dudu town, 6km from his village.
Santosh Meena’s husband had died almost two decades ago in an accident, and she thought getting the three sisters as daughters-in-laws would mean less family tussle, her relatives said, claiming the family has about 90 bigha of farm land, with each bigha having a market value of about ₹35 lakh.
Despite his limited means, the sisters’ father educated his daughters. While one of them had done a postgraduate in mathematics from a local college, another was a graduate and the third was preparing for her Bachelor of Education examination.
“I gave them good education so that they learn to live in a good family,” he said, blaming himself for forcing his daughters to continue with their marriages despite torture and harassment. “I never understood their pain. I always thought they would be happy in a wealthy house and asked them to adjust. I was wrong,” he said, surrounded by shocked villagers outside his humble hut in Jaipur rural district.
Recalling the harassment his daughters had to face, he said they used to taunt the women for coming from a poor family and not bringing anything with them, and would beat them regularly. “To harass them, they used to make them cook on a firewood stove despite having a LPG gas stove. They disconnected the electricity while leaving the house...,” he alleged.
On May 25, the day when his daughters went missing, his sons-in-law came with a few people to his house. “When I asked them about my daughters, they told me they have left with jewellery. We started looking for them and could not find them. Later in the evening, we lodged a police complaint.”
Nothing had changed in the house of Santosh Meena. Neighbours recalled there was no effort by the three brothers to look for their wives and children, even though the girls’ family had put up missing posters in the town.
The family of the accused had two houses in one compound. In one three-storey house, the three brothers lived with their families, and in the second, their mother Santosh stayed with her widowed daughter-in-law.
“Santosh was head of the family and her conduct was good with everyone,” said a neighbour, who declined to be named.
Another neighbour described the three sisters as “quiet girls” who didn’t interact with anyone. “The girls used to be busy with work in house and fields,” said neighbour Ram Saran.
The neighbours said that the eldest son, Nar Singh, had a drinking problem. “On the outside, it looked like a normal family,” he said.
Aftermath of the deaths
The three brothers, their mother and sister-in-law have been arrested on charges of dowry harassment and abetment to suicide, said investigating officer Ashok Chauhan, deputy superintendent of police.
“The three brothers have no remorse and were very cold when asked about their deaths,” he said.
The sisters were more educated and qualified than their husbands, which was a possible reason for friction between them, Chauhan said.
“To me, it appears the sisters were firm on ending their lives. They did not think of reversing their decision even during their 45 minute walk to the well,” he said.
All the accused have been remanded to police custody till May 31 and were being questioned, the police officer said.
The incident was a slap on the face of society, where three sisters were tortured and no one protested, said Kavita Srivastava of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties.
“Independent investigation should be conducted by CB-CID (crime branch, crime investigation department), instead of local police, and compensation should be given to the victim’s family,” she said.
“The girls had no place to go as their father was reluctant, and they could not have stayed at their in-laws place because of torture.”
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