‘Better to die together’: Suicide note paints grim picture of torture on Rajasthan sisters
Abstract
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 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. [Read More]
