55-year-old woman who was recently widowed and her daughter were both killed by the in-laws on the day of and during the husband’s tehrvi ceremony over a dispute related to the daughter’s inheritance rights. The mother-daughter duo were suddenly attacked by the deceased husband’s three younger brothers with clubs and lathis and were beaten to death.
The tragic story started when Suresh Kumar, 62, a DTC driver in New Delhi suddenly died of heart attack leaving behind Mukesh Kumari, and their 22 year old adopted daughter, Priyanka. The mother and daughter wanted to perform the cremation and other last rites and rituals in Delhi but the in-laws insisted they must visit their ancestral village Kaimthal where last rites should be performed. So on August 4, the mother and daughter and all other family members assembled in Kaimthal village where a dispute arose regarding the adopted daughter’s right to inherit Suresh Kumar’s property. The deceased’s brothers and other relatives insisted that Priyanka should not inherit any property and that late Suresh Kumar’s entire property should be distributed amongst the other members of the family. That dispute got out of hand and the enraged brothers beat the mother and daughter to death and fled from the scene.
Police has registered an FIR but no arrests have been made.
One of the most prevalent cultural norm in Indian family systems is that daughters do not inherit any property from her father. The standard justification given by even the most modern and educated family for this discrimination is that the father has already spent a lot of money in getting the daughter married off and paying for her dowry. Thus, once married off, she loses her rights in the natal family property. 9 out of 10 women do not ever bring up the question of property rights lest their brothers’ sentiments are hurt. It is rare that a family has only one daughter and no son in which case perhaps the daughter inherit some property but it is unlikely. The trend is that in absence of a son, once the daughter is married, the man’s nephew through his or his wife’s brother’s will inherit the property. The core idea is that property is strictly kept within the “bloodline”.
These are the trend with regard to biological rights. One can only imagine the hostility the patriarchal family must have had against an adopted daughter. In the mad rage they killed the daughter and mother and by nature law of intestate death the surviving members will inherit the property.
Source: PTI, Indian Express.
Two women lives finished, just like that. Readers of this news site would be able to see how a woman’s life has such little value in India. How easy it is for the society to rape, kill, maim and destroy women lives. In most cases we report, mainstream media does not do a follow up. News networks like Indian Express, India Today whom we quote here do not send their on ground reporters to delve deeper into these issues. As a result, public never get to know whether any justice was done in theses cases.
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