Shame mounts for the country.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW DELHI: Demands for dowry and incessant harassment by in-laws has led to two tragic deaths in India, as two young women – both mothers, and less than thirty years old – have committed suicide due to being unable to cope with the pressures of married life in India.
The incidents happened in Jharkhand and Hisar, Haryana. In the former case, 28 year-old mother of two Poonam Devi set herself ablaze after donating a kidney to her husband as part of a dowry agreement with his parents; the latter incident saw 26 year-old Renu Bala hang herself and her young son to escape the clutches of her abusive husband and in-laws.
Devi married Sudama Giri in 2006, at which point a dowry agreement was reached that would see Devi’s father pay Giri’s family a sizeable sum of money. According to reports, Devi’s father furnished Rs. 1.31 lakh at the time of the marriage, but this was not enough for them.
Over the subsequent years, Devi reportedly enduring harsh abuse from her in-laws, although there is no indication that her husband was complicit or abusive, too. She gave birth to two children and stayed in the marriage, looking after her husband as he fell sick with a serious kidney ailment last year.
Devi’s in-laws allegedly told her that if she donated one of her kidneys to her husband, they would rescind their demands for a further Rs. 25,000 dowry payment, and welcome her into the family as one of their own. Devi agreed, and underwent the risky operation that ultimately saved her husband’s life.
Giri’s parents, however, welched on their agreement with her, and continued to harass her verbally in addition to making demands for payment. Finally, it seems, Devi could not take it any longer, as she immolated herself on April 16 and succumbed to serious burn injuries at a hospital shortly thereafter.
In the other case, in Hisar, Bala allegedly endured years of physical and verbal abuse from her husband, Bhup Singh, and his parents. They would harass her for dowry payments, as well, according to The Times of India, and this continuous hounding ultimately drove Bala to seek solace in death by hanging herself.
But even more tragic is that she took her son, Ankit, with her, hanging him as well. Both mother and son were found dangling from a ceiling in their house, located in Hisar’s Kabrel district.
Both cases have been filed with local authorities as “dowry deaths,” or suicides/homicides caused by bullying and harassment over dowry money. A dowry is payment made by a bride’s family to the groom’s upon marriage, and has been practiced in India for centuries. Both investigations are still ongoing, and no arrests have been made.