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| Sisters (L-R) Mamta, Kalu and Kamlesh Meena endured ‘constant’ abuse after being married off to three brothers (Photo: AFP/Xavier Galiana) |
Before the three sisters and their children
were found dead in a well, they left a message blaming the family they had
married into.
Kalu, Kamlesh and Mamta Meena were victims of a dispute over dowries, the often
hefty sums Indian parents pay to marry off their daughters.
The sisters had wed brothers from the same household and lived under the same
roof, but suffered constant violence from their husbands and in-laws, according
to the trio’s grieving relatives.
They were abused constantly, they say, including when their father failed to
meet demands for more money.
All three were found dead last month near their marital home, a village on the
outskirts of Jaipur, along with Kalu’s four-year-old son and infant child. Both
Kamlesh and Mamta were pregnant.
“We don’t wish to die but death is better than their abuse,” read a message on
WhatsApp left by one of the sisters after their disappearance, a cousin said.
“Our in-laws are the reason behind our deaths. We are dying together because
it’s better than dying every day.”
Authorities are investigating and currently treating the deaths as suicides, a
senior police officer in Jaipur said.
The sisters’ distraught father, Sardar Meena, said life had been a living hell
for his daughters, whose husbands banned them from pursuing their education and
constantly harassed them for more payments.
“We had already given them so many things, you can see them in their home,” he
told AFP, counting off the beds, television sets and refrigerator he provided
to the family.
“I am the father of six girls, there is a limit to how much I can give,” added
Sardar, who earns a meagre income as a farmer.
“I had educated them and just doing that was difficult.”
Police have arrested the three husbands, their mother and a sister-in-law on
charges of dowry harassment and spousal abuse.