JAIPUR, India: Before the three sisters and their children were found dead in a well, they left a message blaming the family they had married into.
Kalu, Kamlesh and Mamta Meena were victims of a dispute over dowries, the often hefty sums Indian parents pay to marry off their daughters.
The sisters had wed brothers from the same household and lived under the same roof, but suffered constant violence from their husbands and in-laws, according to the trio’s grieving relatives.
They were abused constantly, they say, including when their father failed to meet demands for more money.
All three were found dead last month near their marital home, a village on the outskirts of Jaipur, along with Kalu’s four-year-old son and infant child. Both Kamlesh and Mamta were pregnant.
“We don’t wish to die but death is better than their abuse,” read a message on WhatsApp left by one of the sisters after their disappearance, a cousin said.
“Our in-laws are the reason behind our deaths. We are dying together because it’s better than dying every day.”
Authorities are investigating and currently treating the deaths as suicides, a senior police officer in Jaipur said.
The sisters’ distraught father, Sardar Meena, said life had been a living hell for his daughters, whose husbands banned them from pursuing their education and constantly harassed them for more payments.
“We had already given them so many things, you can see them in their home,” he said, counting off the beds, television sets and refrigerator he provided to the family.
“I am the father of six girls, there is a limit to how much I can give,” added Sardar, who earns a meager income as a farmer.
“I had educated them and just doing that was difficult.”
Police have arrested the three husbands, their mother and a sister-in-law on charges of dowry harassment and spousal abuse.
Attempts to contact the men’s family were unsuccessful.
India outlawed the practice of paying dowries more than 60 years ago, and harassment or extortion over the payments is a criminal offense.
But the custom persists, particularly in rural areas, undergirded by social conventions that treat women as an economic burden and demand compensation for accepting them as brides.
Local news outlets regularly report on marital property disputes that end in murder.
Last year, a man in the southern state of Kerala was jailed for life after using venomous snakes to murder his wife and take sole control of their property, which included a new car and 500,000 rupees ($6,500) provided by her family as dowry.
Courts have also been punitive in their treatment of dowry harassment, last month jailing a man in Kerala for 10 years after his payment demands were blamed for driving his wife to suicide.
A pervasive taboo around divorce — only one in 100 Indian marriages end in dissolution — has kept married women from contemplating escape from abusive situations.
For the Meena sisters, leaving was never seen as an option, even though their relatives were aware of the violence.
“Once they were married, we thought they should remain in their marital homes, to maintain the dignity of the family,” Sardar said.
“If we had gotten them remarried in another home, and if that situation turned out to be worse, then what will we do? We’ll lose face.”
India’s National Crime Records Bureau recorded nearly 7,000 dowry-related killings in 2020 — around 19 women every day.
The same agency reported that more than 1,700 women killed themselves that year over “dowry-related issues.”
Both figures are dependent on reports to police, and experts say the actual number of cases is much higher, as with other data on family violence.
“In an hour, some 30 to 40 women are victims of domestic violence... and these are just documented (cases), so it must be much more than that,” Kavita Srivastava, an activist with India’s People’s Union for Civil Liberties, said.
Srivastava said the dowry dispute involving the Meena sisters was just one part of their tormentors’ efforts to control their lives and restrict their independence.
The fundamental cause, she added, was a widespread social acceptance of domestic violence in India that leaves women feeling trapped in oppressive and violent relationships.
“If even one woman has to kill herself because her marital life seems like the end of the road,” she said, “I feel the Indian state has failed for those women.”
Death of three sisters spotlights India dowry violence
https://arab.news/5cpt6
Death of three sisters spotlights India dowry violence
- Sisters had wed brothers from the same household and lived under the same roof
- Trio abused constantly, including when their father failed to meet demands for more money
Indonesia’s Mount Ibu erupts as disaster agency warns of possible floods, cold lava flow
- Mount Ibu’s recent activity follows a series of eruptions of other volcanoes in Indonesia
- Archipelagic country sits on the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ and has 127 active volcanoes
The eruption of Mount Ibu at 11:03 a.m. (0203 GMT) follows a series of eruptions in May, after authorities noticed an uptick of volcanic activity starting in April, leading to the evacuation of seven nearby villages.
“The ash column is grey with thick intensity and leaning toward the southwest,” the agency said, adding that residents and tourists should maintain a distance of at least 7 km from the active crater.
Footage shared by the agency showed the volcano spewing ash that grew thicker and eventually dispersed.
Indonesia’s disaster management agency BNPB told local authorities to anticipate secondary disasters such as flash floods and cold lava flow. Analysis by the nation’s meteorology agency shows the region has the potential for moderate to heavy rain, although it did not say when.
“If there is a buildup of material left over from the eruption, it should be cleaned up immediately because it is dangerous. If there is heavy rain, flash floods could occur, cause damage and many fatalities,” Suharyanto, the BNPB chief, had said in a statement on Friday.
The volcano has been on PVMBG’s highest alert level since May 16. Mount Ibu’s recent activity follows a series of eruptions of other volcanoes in Indonesia, which sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and has 127 active volcanoes.
Flash floods and cold lava flow from Mount Marapi, one of the most active volcanoes in West Sumatra province, covered several nearby districts following torrential rain on May 11, killing at least 67 people with 20 people still missing.
Voting begins in the last round of India’s election, a referendum on Modi’s decade in power
- The seventh round of voting across seven states and one union territory will complete polling for all 543 seats in the powerful lower house of parliament
- If Modi wins, he’ll be only the second Indian leader to retain power for a third term after Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister
NEW DELHI: Indians began voting Saturday in the last round of a six-week-long national election that is a referendum on Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decade in power.
The election is considered one of the most consequential in India’s history. If Modi wins, he’ll be only the second Indian leader to retain power for a third term after Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister.
The seventh round of voting in 57 constituencies across seven states and one union territory will complete polling for all 543 seats in the powerful lower house of parliament. Nearly 970 million voters — more than 10 percent of the world’s population — were eligible to elect a new parliament for five years. More than 8,300 candidates ran for the office.
Most polls show Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party leading over the broad opposition alliance that’s challenging them, led by the Congress party. The votes will be counted Tuesday, with results expected by the end of the day.
Modi’s campaign, vying for a third-straight term, began on a platform of economic progress. He promised to uplift the poor and turn India into a developed nation by 2047. But it has turned increasingly shrill in recent weeks as he escalated polarizing rhetoric in back-to-back incendiary speeches that targeted the country’s Muslim minority, who make up 14 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people.
On Thursday, after finishing his election campaign, Modi went to meditate at a memorial site honoring a famous Hindu saint who is believed to have attained enlightenment there.
When the election kicked off in April, Modi and his BJP were widely expected to clinch another term.
Since first coming to power in 2014, Modi has enjoyed immense popularity. His supporters see him as a self-made, strong leader who has improved India’s standing in the world, and credit his pro-business policies with making the economy the world’s fifth-largest.
At the same time, his rule has seen brazen attacks and hate speech against minorities, particularly Muslims. India’s democracy, his critics say, is faltering and Modi has increasingly blurred the line between religion and state.
But as the campaign ground on, his party has faced stiff resistance from the opposition alliance and its main face, Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party. They have attacked Modi over his Hindu nationalist politics and are hoping to benefit from growing economic discontent.
Pre-poll surveys showed that voters were increasingly worried about unemployment, the rise in food prices and an overall sentiment that only a small portion of Indians have benefitted despite brisk economic growth under Modi, making the contest appear closer than initially anticipated.
In this election, Modi’s BJP — which controls much of India’s Hindi-speaking northern and central parts — sought to expand their influence by making inroads into the country’s eastern and southern states, where regional parties hold greater sway.
The BJP also banked on consolidating votes among the Hindu majority, who make up 80 percent of the population, after Modi opened a long-demanded Hindu temple on the site of a razed mosque in January. Many saw it as the unofficial start of his campaign, but analysts said the excitement over the temple may not be enough to yield votes.
Instead, Modi ramped up anti-Muslim rhetoric after voter turnout dipped slightly below 2019 figures in the first few rounds of the 2024 polls.
This was seen as a tactic to energize his core Hindu voter base. But analysts say it also reflected the lack of any big-ticket national issue to help Modi propel his BJP to electoral victory, as he has done previously.
In 2014, Modi’s status as a political outsider cracking down on deep-rooted corruption won over voters disillusioned with decades of dynastic politics. And in 2019, he swept the polls on a wave of nationalism after his government launched airstrikes into rival Pakistan in response to a suicide bombing in Kashmir that killed 40 Indian soldiers.
But things are different this time, analysts say, giving Modi’s political challengers a potential boost.
“The opposition somehow managed to derail his plan by setting the narrative to local issues, like unemployment and the economy. This election, people are voting keeping various issues in mind,” said Rasheed Kidwai, a political analyst.
US defense secretary says war with China neither imminent nor unavoidable, stressing need for talks
SINGAPORE: United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told a gathering of top security officials Saturday that war with China was neither imminent nor unavoidable, despite rapidly escalating tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, stressing the importance of renewed dialogue between him and his Chinese counterpart in avoiding “miscalculations and misunderstandings.”
Austin’s comments at the Shangri-La defense forum in Singapore came the day after he met for more than an hour on the sidelines with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun, the first in-person meeting between the top defense officials since contacts between the American and Chinese militaries broke down in 2022 after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, infuriating Beijing.
Neither side budged from their longstanding positions on Taiwan — which China claims as its own and has not ruled out using force to take — and on China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea, which has led to direct confrontations between China and other nations in the region, most notably the Philippines.
While declining to detail the specifics of their conversation, Austin said the most important thing was that the two were again talking.
“As long as we’re talking, we’re able to identify those issues that are troublesome and that we want to make sure that we have placed guardrails to ensure there are no misperceptions and no miscalculations … that can spiral out of control,” he said.
“You can only do that kind of thing if you are talking.”
Addressing the same forum on Friday night, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. bluntly outlined what could be at stake, saying that if a Filipino were killed as China confronts his country’s coast guard and merchant fleet to press its claims in the South China Sea, it would be “very, very close to what we define as an act of war and therefore we will respond accordingly.”
Marcos added that he assumed the Philippines’ treaty partners, which include the US, “hold the same standard.”
In his own speech, Austin lauded how Marcos “spoke so powerfully last night about how the Philippines is standing up for its sovereign rights under international law.” But when pressed later, he would not say how the US might react if a Filipino were killed in a confrontation with China, calling it hypothetical.
He did say the US commitment to the Philippines as a treaty partner is “ironclad,” while again stressing the importance of dialogue with China.
“There are a number of things that can happen at sea or in the air, we recognize that,” he said. “But our goal is to make sure that we don’t allow things to spiral out of control unnecessarily.”
Beijing in recent years has been rapidly expanding its navy and is becoming growingly assertive in pressing its claim to virtually the entire South China Sea.
The US, meantime, has been ramping up military exercises in the region with its allies to underscore its “free and open Indo-Pacific” concept, meant to emphasize freedom of navigation through the contested waters, including the Taiwan Strait.
Expressing the concerns of some in the region, Indonesian academic Dewi Fortuna Anwar said any de-escalation of tensions “would be very welcome to this part of the world,” but wondered whether the US would allow China’s assertive military posture to grow uncontested if Washington’s main emphasis was now dialogue.
“We are also worried if you guys get too cozy, we also get trampled,” she said.
Austin said that many of those issues were best addressed through talks, but also assured that Washington will continue to ensure that the rights of nations in the region were protected and that they continued to have access to their exclusive economic zones.
“War or a fight with China is neither imminent, in my view, or unavoidable,” Austin said.
“Leaders of great power nations need to continue to work together to ensure that we’re doing things to reduce the opportunities for miscalculation and misunderstandings,” he said. “Every conversation is not going to be a happy conversation, but it is important that we continue to talk to each other. And it is important that we continue to support our allies and partners on their interests as well.”
Marian Robinson, mother of Michelle Obama, dies at 86
WASHINGTON: Marian Robinson, mother of former US first lady Michelle Obama, who provided support and stability, especially during the eight years of Barack Obama’s presidency, died on Friday, the Obama and Robinson families said. She was 86.
Fondly called the “first grandma,” Robinson played a pivotal role in helping care for her granddaughters, Malia and Sasha Obama, during their early years at the White House.
“With a healthy nudge, she agreed to move to the White House with Michelle and Barack. We needed her. The girls needed her. And she ended up being our rock through it all,” the family statement read, adding she died “peacefully” on Friday morning.
Born in 1937 on Chicago’s South Side, Robinson was one of seven children. Her parents separated during her teenage years and she witnessed the extreme highs and lows of race relations in the United States.
Her father was not allowed to join a union or work for larger construction firms due to the color of his skin and hence “grew mistrustful of a world that seemed to have little place for him,” the family said its statement. Yet, her daughter and son-in-law made it to the White House when Barack Obama became the first Black US president.
The glamor of the White House was never a great fit for Robinson, according to the family.
Rather than hobnobbing with Oscar winners or Nobel laureates, she preferred spending her time upstairs with a TV tray, in the room outside her bedroom with big windows that looked out at the Washington Monument, the family statement said. It added that she made great friends “with the ushers and butlers, the folks who make the White House a home.”
Robinson got married in 1960 and had two children, including the former first lady. She also worked as a teacher and a secretary, the family said.
During her eight years at the White House, the family said she would often sneak outside the gates to buy greeting cards at nearby stores and sometimes other customers would recognize her saying she resembled the first lady’s mother.
“Oh, I get that a lot,” she would smile and reply.
Canadian police looking for suspect in Vancouver synagogue arson attack
- Attack happened less than a week after two Jewish schools — in Toronto and Montreal — were targeted by gunfire
- The incidents come as the bloody Israel-Hamas war in Gaza grinds into its eighth month
MONTREAL: Vancouver police searched Friday for an arsonist who set fire to the entrance of a synagogue, while stepping up security at other Jewish facilities following two other anti-Semitic attacks in the country in the span of a few days.
The incidents come as the bloody Israel-Hamas war in Gaza grinds into its eighth month.
The perpetrator poured fuel on the front doors of the Schara Tzedeck synagogue and set them on fire Thursday night, causing minor damage, the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver said.
No one was hurt and the blaze was quickly put out by members of the synagogue.
“This fire was intentionally set at a place of worship for the Jewish community,” police Constable Tania Visintin said in a statement.
“While we collect evidence to identify the person responsible, we’re also working closely with faith leaders and community members to ensure everyone’s safety.”
The statement said additional officers were dispatched to Jewish community centers, schools and religious institutions.
“A synagogue in Vancouver was attacked last night in another disgusting act of anti-Semitism,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on X.
“We cannot let this hate or these acts of violence stand. This is not the Canada we want to be.”
The arson came less than a week after two Jewish schools — in Toronto and Montreal — were targeted by gunfire.
In November, a Jewish school in Montreal was hit by gunfire twice in one week.
No one was injured in any of those incidents.
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,284 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
