Tortured woman forced to drink acid; dies in hospital

According to the Indian Law, receiving dowry is as punishable ad giving one. But still, this continues.

And the crimes committed on the lack of dowry received are many.

A woman died after being forced to drink acid over dowry demands by her in-laws. The police have registered a case and are conducting raids to nab the accused persons.

Reports said Rajani Kumari, a resident of Bhagalpur district, Patna, Bihar was married to a local policeman four years back. Soon after the marriage, however, her-in-laws began torturing the woman for dowry and on March 31, she was finally compelled to drink acid, the victim said in her dying declaration before the police. After battling for about a fortnight, she finally died on Sunday, triggering strong protests in the areas.

READ ALSO: Woman marries twice as man; dowry case registered

“First I was assaulted by my in-laws for dowry and then forced to drink acid,” the victim who was admitted to a local hospital told the local police in her dying declaration. A fortnight after recording her statement before the police, she died. Strangely, all her in-laws fled the hospital soon after she died.

The local senior superintendent of police, Bhagalpur, Manoj Kumar said the police had registered a case against the victim’s in-laws and raids were on to arrest the accused persons.

On Tuesday, an angry mob blocked the NH-80 that connects Bhagalpur with Jharkhand by placing the body on the road, the SSP said, adding that the protestors were demanding the arrest of Bhaskar and handing over the custody of Kumari’s son to her parents.

The SSP said a case of dowry death had been registered at Akbarnagar police station against Bhaskar and some members of his family. A process had also been initiated for.

“It is, however, a matter of investigation whether Kumari was forced to drink acid,” the SSP said.

The blockade was lifted after senior police officials informed the protestors about steps being taken to arrest the victim’s husband.

READ ALSO:  Husband killed a 23-year-old woman for Dowry

Acid attacks for dowry is nothing new to Bihar. Earlier in December 2016, a man in Bihar had thrown acid on the private parts of his wife just because she did not bring enough dowry to her in-laws’ home. The accused had demanded a buffalo as dowry among other things, according to media reports. The incident took place in West Champaran district.

Murder or torture for dowry goes on unabated in Bihar despite the state government launching a vigorous campaign against dowry and then forming a human chain to create awareness in the society about the deadly social evil claiming scores of lives every year.

An official report said around 25,000 women were either killed or committed suicide due to dowry harassment by their in-laws between 2012 and 2014 with Uttar Pradesh (7,048 deaths) reporting the highest number of death closely followed by Bihar (3,830 deaths). This information was provided to the Lok Sabha by federal minister Maneka Gandhi.

Apart from this, around 30,000 cases of dowry were registered during the same period under Dowry Prohibition Act.