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The bodies of three sisters, two of whom were pregnant, along with their two children were found in a well in Dudu town of Jaipur district on Saturday, 28 May, as per officials.
According to a report by The Indian Express, the three women have been identified as Kalu Meena, 25, Mamta Meena, 23, and Kamlesh Meena, 20. While one of the children was four years old, the other was less than a month old. The three women were married to three brothers from the same family.
The police said that the father of the women had filed an FIR against the husbands and their in-laws alleging harassment over dowry.
The FIR was lodged on Thursday under Sections 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Family Alleges Harassment by In-Laws Over Dowry
As per the FIR, the youngest sister Kamlesh had called their father on the morning on 25 May saying that their husbands were beating them up and that they were afraid of losing their lives.
The father of the women said in the FIR that when he reached Dudu to inquire about his daughters, the in-laws started to abuse him and warned him "they have died, we don’t know anything, go away or you will also die," the daily reported.
The father reportedly added in the FIR:
“Elder daughter Kalu has two sons, one is four while the other is 22 days old, Mamta and Kamlesh are 8-9 months pregnant. I fear that they killed my three daughters and two grandchildren in a pre-planned way and made them disappear.”
Police Suspect Suicide
However, the police suspect that this may be a case of suicide and the exact cause of death would be clear after postmortems.
SP Jaipur Rural Manish Agarwal said in a statement that one of the women had posted a cryptic status on WhatsApp that they were being harassed by the in-laws and “it was better to die.”
He said, “Prima facie, the incident appears to be suicide but the exact cause of the death will be clear after the postmortem. One of the women had also posted a status on WhatsApp that they were being troubled by their in-laws and it was better to die. Since the bodies have been recovered now and the family is giving a supplementary report, based on that we will register a case under section 304B (dowry death).”
He added that further investigation is being conducted.
(With inputs from The Indian Express.)
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