A 27-year-old woman based in Chembur has approached the police alleging harassment from her husband and in-laws for over nine months post her marriage in Feb 2022.
In her statement to the police, she said that they tortured her regarding “insufficient” dowry, snatched her phone away for months to not let her connect to her parents, physically assaulted her and even marital rape by her husband.
The Dowry Story
Post their marriage in February 2022, till the next two weeks, things were going smoothly, the victim said. During their marriage, her in-laws had demanded dowry, which was provided by her father in the form of gold chains, gold rings and ₹1 lakh cash. After 2 weeks, her mother-in-law started taunting her about the dowry being insufficient, which led to frequent fights between the two. Gradually, her husband who had taken a house loan of ₹7 lakhs, started telling her to help him with “repayment” by asking for more money from her parents. When she said that her parents had already put ₹15 lakhs into their marriage ceremony, her husband brutally hit her repeatedly.
Domestic violence and rape continued for many months
This physical assault continued for the next nine months, for various reasons. She alleged that she was made to work at home, without anyone’s assistance and even expected to find a job to manage the house’s finances. However, when she stepped out, her husband’s sister made false allegations against her saying that she has extra-marital affairs which is why she goes out. This led to her not going out as her husband started hitting her if she did. Furthermore, whenever she attempted to talk to her parents, they created a scene which eventually ended by snatching her phone away.
She also alleged that during these nine months, she was forcefully raped by her husband. However, no sections of rape have been added to the first information report (FIR) as marital rape victims cannot initiate criminal proceedings against their perpetrators in India.
On September 21, 2022, the victim managed to call her parents by borrowing a mobile phone from a neighbour and informed them about her situation and how she is trapped with her husband and in-laws. Her parents came to rescue her. Even though her husband and in-laws didn’t let her go, she managed to escape and went to her own house, she said.
Victim goes to police for help
The traumatised victim sought divorce but failed repeatedly. On Saturday she gathered courage and went to the police to register a formal complaint against her husband, mother-in-law and sister-in-law.
Talking to FPJ, Murlidhar Karpe, senior police inspector of RCF police station, said, “We will send a pre-arrest notice under section 41A of CrPC to the accused. Once they show up, we will collect their statements, meanwhile, we are also collecting evidence to substantiate her allegations. After these, we will start with the chargesheet which will be submitted to the court and will decide further course of action.”
In the FIR, police have added sections including 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 34 (common intent), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, against the accused.
