Urmila and Ganga Prasad, parents of Sangeeta share the story with Gulf News. Prasad is a retired security guard.

“We wish we had not forced Sangeeta to go back to her in-laws. Sangeeta and her husband worked together in a private company in Noida, that is about 25 kilometres southeast of New Delhi. They were friends for over seven years. The boy’s parents were against the marriage, as it was an inter-caste match (they are natives of Rajasthan and we belong to Uttar Pradesh). But Sangeeta was adamant she would marry only when his parents agreed. Early this year, the boy’s parents finally agreed and in February the two got married. As dowry, we gave our son-in-law all household essentials and we were happy that our daughter had finally settled down. But after 15 days of marriage, when Sangeeta came visiting, she refused to go back to her husband’s home. Believing her to be homesick, we let her be. Never in our wildest imagination did we think that there was anything wrong in her marriage; after all, she had known her husband for seven years. Eventually, she did go back, only to return again. Then in July, her husband insisted she accompany him home. Five days later, we received a call from her in-laws that our daughter had committed suicide. Our daughter was an independent and strong woman. She could never have taken her life. They must have killed her. She continued to work even after marriage. What led to her death, we will never know. She never confided in us about her troubles, perhaps thinking it would disturb us.”

“I saw a stool and a scarf hanging from the fan.”

Pooja and Satya Pal, parents of Ruby, 25, tell Gulf News how they rescued their daughter from a toxic marriage. Prakash is a government official.

“I am glad my daughter is well-educated and working now. When she was 19, elders in my family insisted we get her married. Even though I am a quite progressive, I did not resist the pressure to get her married so early in life. The boy’s horoscope was a perfect match with my daughter’s. He worked in a well-known private firm and lived independently. All went well for two years, until Ruby’s husband began distancing himself from her. He blamed it on work pressure, saying he had to travel to [the state of] Himachal Pradesh often on work. This led to friction between them and my daughter, who contued to work after marriage, soon began to sense that there was more to her husband’s frequent travels than work. She soon discovered he had been over-staying in Himachal as he was in a relationship with another woman. This led to a confrontation and many fights ensued. One day, when she returned home early from work, she was horrified to find her husband with that girl in the house. Caught red-handed, the two hurriedly left the house. It was sheer coincidence that that I decided to drop in that same evening and found my daughter sobbing and distraught, and inside the house, I found a noose fashioned from her scarf hanging by the fan and a stool placed under it. We hugged each other and cried uncontrollably. I did not question her but just helped her pack her bags and brought her home.”

With her parents support, Ruby got a divorce.

(With inputs from Guardian)

Nilima Pathak and Karuna Madan, Correspondents

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