On March 18, a tragedy struck Praya Graji, a city in the Indian city of Uttar Pradesh, that shook two middle-class communities.
That night, a woman named Anshika hanged herself in her home.
She married her husband, Anshu Kesarwani, last year, and the two had a grand wedding, but that happened just over a year after they got married.
(Ansika and her husband Anshu)
The in-laws, the Kesavani, were in the timber business and had a four-story house with one bedroom on each floor.
The first floor and basement are the shops and warehouses, and the old couple of Kaisavani live on the second floor, their daughter Shivani lives on the third floor, and their son and daughter-in-law live on the fourth floor.
The deceased, Ansica, usually went downstairs for dinner around 8 p.m., but she did not go downstairs on the day of the incident, and the Kesavani family thought she was sleeping and did not immediately look for her.
At 10 p.m., her husband, An Shu, came back from a busy day in the store and found that she had not come downstairs.
He went upstairs and knocked on the bedroom door and called his wife again, but there was no response.
Sensing that something was wrong, he broke a piece of glass on the door and opened the locked door, only to see that his wife was dead in the house.
Hearing his screams, the Kesavani family rushed upstairs.
Subsequently, An Shu and his uncle went to the police station less than half a kilometer away from his home to report the case, and also reported the letter to his father-in-law and mother-in-law.
But what the Kesavani family didn't expect was that less than an hour later, Ansika's mother's family gathered a group of relatives and friends, and a total of dozens of people ran to Kesavani's house to "take revenge".
While Ansika's husband and the police believe she committed suicide, her family doesn't.
The mother's family did not believe that Ansika would commit suicide, they thought that her mother-in-law's family must have disliked the small dowry they gave, murdered Ansica, and then disguised herself as suicide.
(Dowry in India, schematic)
A few minutes later, a violent physical altercation broke out between the two families.
The sister-in-law, Shivani, recorded the scene with her mobile phone, only to see a group of people yelling and beating each other with wooden sticks.
The police also came, standing between the two families and trying to maintain order, but they couldn't control the situation at all.
It wasn't enough to beat someone to vent her anger, as soon as Ansika's body was carried out of Kesavani's house, her mother's family set fire to their house.
Sadly, there was a lot of wood stored in the shop on the first floor of the Kesavani house and the warehouse in the basement, which ignited when it caught fire, and the house quickly turned into a sea of fire.
At the time, the old couple of Kessawani, sister-in-law Shivani and one of her aunts were in the house and were trapped by the fire.
Shivani, who lived on the third floor, and his aunt broke the glass window and climbed to their uncle's house next door, only to save their lives.
But her parents weren't so lucky.
At around 3 a.m., it took firefighters more than 3 hours to finally put out the fire and found the charred remains of the old couple in the house.
"They found my mother sitting on the stairs and she was being taken to the morgue in a body bag," Shivani said, wiping tears from her eyes.
(The old couple of Kesavani who died in the fire)
Shiwani complained to the police, mentioning that 12 relatives of Ansika's family were involved in beating and setting fires, as well as 60 or 70 unidentified people.
Police arrested some of the perpetrators, and seven others remain in custody, including the deceased Ansika's father, uncle and cousins.
Ansica's family is not convinced, and her father has filed a countersuit, accusing her son-in-law, daughter's in-laws and sister-in-law of harassing her, demanding a dowry from her, and finally murdering her.
The sister-in-law, Shivani, denied the allegations.
She admitted that at her brother-in-law's wedding, her mother-in-law's family received a dowry from Ansica's family, including a car.
"They have already given her everything they want for their daughter, and we haven't asked for anything more."
(Sister-in-law Shivani)
In fact, since 1961, it has been illegal to accept dowries in India.
But as a deep-rooted folk custom, the matter of "dowry" has never disappeared in the real life of India, and it has also caused many tragedies.
A recent study found that 90% of Indian marriages still do not bypass dowry.
There are also many cases of dowry-related cases, and the Indian police receive thousands of reports of harassment of brides by in-laws every year.
Between 2017 and 2022, 35,493 brides in India were killed by their husbands or in-laws, all because of the lack of dowry.
Although there are many such cases in India, it is very rare for such a horrific act of retaliation to lead to the death of someone, and it is very rare for the locals to be taken by surprise.
(Dowry in India, schematic)
Now, the family accuses the Kesavani family of murdering Ansika;
The in-laws accused Ansika's relatives of setting fires and killing two people.
Both families felt that the other party was guilty, the public said that the public was reasonable, and the mother said that the mother was reasonable, and Liang Zi was settled.
In order to listen to the opinions of both sides, the reporter went to Ansika's parents' house for interviews, but only saw a large iron lock hanging on the door of their house.
Ansica's uncle's house was just 2 kilometers away, but both the uncle and her cousins were arrested, and the uncle's family refused to be interviewed.
Finally, the reporter found Ansika's grandfather, who was in his 90s.
A grandchild brought him a plastic chair, and the old man sat down, shorting of breath at first, and slowed down for a few minutes before speaking.
"What can I tell you? All my family is in prison, my son and grandchildren. ”
"They [the mother-in-law's] killed Ansica and hung her up so that she looked like she had committed suicide."
Grandpa revealed that Ansika's wedding was very luxurious that year.
"We spent 5 million rupees (about 433,000 yuan) to give her everything she needed for a family, as well as a car for 1.6 million rupees (about 138,000 yuan)."
But when Ansika returned to her parents' home last February, she complained to her family.
"She told us that she was harassed by her in-laws."
"We told her to stay there and make some changes on her own, and told her things were going to get better," said Grandpa's voice with regret.
(Dowry in India, schematic)
The reporter also learned about the Kesavani family.
Their family is a well-known family in the local area, and people think they are humble, friendly, and helpful.
The neighbors couldn't believe that tragedy could happen to the family.
"They are all very nice people. We can't imagine how this could happen. ”
"They're not the kind of people who go around arguing with people."
"We don't know exactly who lit the fire, but anyone who sees their daughter's body would lose their mind," a neighbor said.
Another lady who lived nearby also expressed her bewilderment, saying that the deceased, Ansica, was very nice and a lovely girl, and that the neighbors did not believe that her family would set the fire.
"Their family is a very simple kind of person, and it is impossible for them to commit such a crime."
"But unfortunately, her in-laws died in the fire."
"What really saddens me now is that no one is discussing what happened to Ansica, how did she die?"
(The Kesavani family's house)
Since the night of Ansika's death, her husband Anshu has not dared to return home and has been hiding outside.
Because most of Ansica's relatives have been released home by the police, he fears for his life.
My sister-in-law, Shivani, who now lives next door to her uncle's house, took the reporter to see the original home.
The walls of the house were blackened with smoke, a thick layer of ash had accumulated on the floor, and burnt pots and pans and furniture skeletons had been left in place.
"I want justice."
"My life was ruined, my home and family were gone."
"I want a free and impartial investigation, and everyone found guilty must be punished."
"Why are they burning down the house?"
(Shivani standing in a burned house)
Shivani was also unhappy with the police's performance.
"At least 20 police officers came outside our house, but no one came into the house to save my parents."
"They just stood there watching."
A senior police officer refuted the allegation, saying,
"At that time, people were emotionally sensitive and excited."
"Our focus is to take the body from the scene and send it to the hospital for an autopsy."
"And to disperse the crowd and de-escalate the situation."
"No one expected the house to catch fire, which was completely unexpected."
"We'll call the fire department right away."
"We also helped save five people."
(related reports)
Now this complex case is still under investigation.
3 lives, 7 arrests, 2 good families ruined,
I hope that everyone who is truly guilty will receive the punishment they deserve......