In india,mostly when a girl is abused immensely in her matrimonial home,she conveys her plight to parents by writing them letters,by telephoning and so on.here i am not referring to petty quarrels with her inlaws and husband.
here i am referring to proper abuses,like:
- depriving her of food.
- keeping her captive in the house and not letting her socialize with the outside world
- physically abusing her (hair pulling,kicking,slapping,punching,etc.)over dowry demands,for being ugly or dark complexioned.for being infertile,for not bearing a male child,for being overweight and so on
- threats of being killed if she tries to complain to neighbours about getting abused,about taking any legal action with inlaws for their abuses,or if she objects to her husband's adultery
despite hearing the daughter's ordeal,many parents take it lightly and dont protect her.they keep asking her to "ADJUST" with the above abuses.sometimes they harass her verbally if she tries to take legal action upon her inlaws and offer her no support.If she comes to live with them for some time to get some peace,they make her life also hellish and force her to return to that abusive household again.
so many such daughters who are forced to "tolerate" all this,go into a depression,get a nervous breakdown or even become insane.If they become insane, these inlaws get a good chance to push her into an asylum,succeed in proving her mad in courts and get the son remarried.but no one notes her plight.all the while,these daughters' parents act as mute spectators.
in many cases,so many such daughters who don't want to suffer any further commit suicide,or get killed by inlaws.when it gets reported to police or in media,then only these parents wake up and realise the value of their daughter's ordeal which she used to share in the past.but by then it's too late.
the duty of daughters' parents gets over after marriage.this is what many such parents think and they dont care if the daughter is being treated like a human being or not in her matrimonial home.All they care for is their prestige in society.
so,my point here is:
Once inlaws' harassment towards the daughter-inlaw is PROVEN as the cause of her murder OR suicide,OR her inasanity OR her nervous breakdown,they will get punished no doubt.
But if it's also PROVEN alongside that the parents who were always v.well aware of her plight through letters,SOS calls,etc did not protect her,should they also get punished for their selfishness and inability to protect her?If they had done so,maybe her life could have been saved.Maybe she have been saved from going into a depression/breakdown.
If the courts start taking action upon such parents also,dowry killings,suicides,and even GENUINE DV cases will drastically reduce..
Please share your views..