Indian Wife kills herself after Harassed to Have a Boy

An Indian wife named Surekha Desale, aged 25, from Maharashtra, allegedly took her own life after being harassed for not giving birth to a boy.

Mrs Desale, a resident of Khanivali village in Shahapur Taluka, committed suicide following constant harassment by her husband and in-laws for having two daughters.

The deceased got married to Sharad Desale, of Khanivali village, Maharashtra, in May 2016.

She gave birth to a girl in 2017 and the couple had another daughter in January 2019.

However, since their marriage, Surekha was harassed by her in-laws for more dowry. They later turned their attention to the fact that Surekha had two daughters.

According to police officials, Surekha’s in-laws had preferred a male child.

The woman had spoken to her parents about the alleged harassment when it became more frequent.

On Saturday, March 9, 2019, her in-laws called up Surekha’s parents to tell them that she was missing.

Later that night, her body was found floating in a nearby village well.

Surekha’s brother complained to police that she was being harassed by her husband and in-laws to have a male child and for more dowry.

Based on the complaint, police officials booked her husband, father-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law on Wednesday, March 13, 2019.

They were booked under sections 304-B (dowry death), 306 (abetment of suicide), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 498-A (cruelty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

A police official added that an investigation into the case was underway but no arrests had been made yet.

Cases against married women involving dowry are common in India.

One incident involved a woman who filed a complaint against her husband and in-laws for beating her and demanding more dowry.

Rekha Rani got married in 2015 but a few days after, she was pressured into giving more dowry.

In her complaint, she said: “After a few days of my marriage, my husband, mother-in-law and sister-in-law’s behaviour changed towards me and they started demanding more dowry.”

The regular demands increased to verbal abuse and insults. Her husband would become physically violent towards her under the influence of alcohol.

“My husband used to thrash me under the influence of alcohol. He has also tried to strangulate me once.”

According to Rekha’s statement, they even denied her of any medical attention when she was due to give birth.

Based on the statement, police officers registered a case under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The suspects were not yet arrested but an investigation was underway.