Ghaziabad girls’ death: polygamous familyset-up under scanner

A day after three minor sisters died allegedly by suicide in Ghaziabad, the police on Thursday said they are probing the family’s unusual domestic arrangement while trying to trace two mobile phones that belonged to the teenagers.

Their father, Chetan Kumar, a businessman from the Burari area, has been living in the Sahibabad area for the past three years with his wives Sujata and Heena, who are sisters, and their four children – the three girls and a boy aged 10. The police on Thursday said Mr. Kumar has a third wife, Tina, with whom he has a three-year-old daughter.

A senior Ghaziabad police officer told The Hindu that they are matching the note purportedly left behind by the three sisters with their handwriting samples. “We are also reading the note carefully and speaking to the parents to understand their family set-up and the impact it may have had on the children,” the officer said.

According to the note, the girls expressed distress over not being allowed to teach their three-year-old half-sister “their Korean culture”. The letter, written in Hindi, mentions disagreements within the family over how the three-year-old should be raised and refers to tensions with one of the mothers. Based on this, the police are examining whether the polygamous household structure may have affected the children’s psychological well-being. “Till now, none of the wives have raised complaints about the arrangement,” the officer said.

No FIR so far

The police are also trying to locate the two phones. “We have learnt that one was sold six months back and the other two days prior to the incident,” the officer said, adding that no FIR has been registered yet, and all angles are under investigation.

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