MAKKAH, 23 April 2007 — A father of three young women literally dropped dead in a courtroom here after the judge ruled in favor of his three daughters, who had filed a case against him after he continuously prevented them from getting married. The court was told that the man had prevented his daughters from getting married even though a host of eligible grooms had proposed to them. The heart of the problem seemed to be the issue of dowry. Prospective grooms would flee after hearing the father’s unreasonably high dowry requests.