The bodies of the well reveal the tragedy of 3 wives in India

Sardar Meena searched in vain for days for his three daughters, and two grandchildren, after they went missing from the family home in Dodu village in the Indian state of Rajasthan, until their bodies were found inside an old well in the arid countryside.

Kalu, 27, a mother of a 4-year-old and a 27-day-old, and her two younger sisters, Kamlish, 20, and Mamata, 22, both pregnant, were married to three siblings, and lived with them in their family home in Dodo.

Shortly before her death, the youngest of them wrote "Status" on her WhatsApp account - transmitted by her cousin, accusing the three husbands of intent to kill and saying, "We don't want to die, but death is better than abuse."

Four days after the gloomy news, Sardar Mina, his wife, their eldest son, their three other daughters and their relatives were still weeping, as he photographed them lined up on the shelves of the family's modest home in Chabia village, near Dodo.

A Jaipur police officer told AFP that the authorities were treating their deaths as suicide, pending the results of the autopsy.

However, their father accused his in-laws of mistreating their wives and causing them emotional harassment for years.

Kalou's eldest daughter was taken to hospital in April after being beaten by her husband and family.

"My daughters were subjected to violence, and then they come back here," the angry father told AFP.

Despite the violence, they said they had to go back to live in the marital home and go back to their husbands.”

Since divorce is considered a disgrace in most Indian families, Meena would allow his daughters to return to their husbands "to save his family's honour".

Mina indicated that his in-laws were criticizing his daughters for their meager dowries, in particular.

The deceased's husbands, mother and sister were arrested on charges of dowry-related harassment and domestic violence.

Sonu, another daughter of Mina, said of her sisters, "They bothered them a lot, but they hoped that things would change one day."

Indian law has prohibited the practice of dowry for more than 60 years, but violations of it are widely recorded.

"We have already given them a lot of things, including televisions, a refrigerator and furniture," the father said.

He added, "I am a father, not girls, and there are limits to my ability."

He expressed his pride in their university degrees, saying: I provided them with an education, and this in itself was difficult.

However, the three husbands prevented Mina's daughters from continuing their studies and work.

Local newspapers publish daily stories about domestic violence and disputes over dowries, ending in violence.

Last year, an Indian from the southern state of Kerala was sentenced to life in prison for killing his wife with cobra bites in order to seize her property.

His marriage to her had previously secured him a new car and more than six thousand dollars.

Last month, a Kerala court sentenced a man to 10 years in prison for forcing his wife to commit suicide for harassing her over her dowry.

Data from the National Bureau of Criminal Records showed that about 7,000 housewives were killed and 1,700 others committed suicide in 2020 due to dowry cases.

A national family health survey showed that about 30 percent of married women experienced domestic violence, which is defined as physical or sexual violence.

However, women's rights advocates emphasized that these numbers are only a few of the realistic numbers.

Human rights activist Kavita Srivastava told AFP that between 30 and 40 women are victims of domestic violence every hour, stressing that this data is based only on complaints registered by the police.

However, the main problem, in her opinion, lies in the society's failure to confront domestic violence, considering that such surrender is very worrying.

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