Dowry torture: Woman locked in cowshed with cattle, raped by in-laws for three years

July 5, 2012

torture

Bhopal, July 5: Unable to meet dowry demands of in-laws, a 20-year-old woman was allegedly kept locked in a cowshed for three years and repeatedly raped by her husband, his relatives and neighbours in a village in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh.

The hapless woman faced sexual exploitation for 36 months till she was sold to a moneylender for Rs 50,000 this May as her parents were in no condition to pay dowry to in-laws. When she fell critically ill, a neighbour took her to a hospital, but he too allegedly raped her on the way.

In a chance encounter, a relative of the victim spotted her at the moneylender's house and reported the matter to her father.

On July 1, the woman went to the Rahatgarh police station with her relatives and narrated the harrowing tale, leaving the police baffled. According to the office of the SP Sagar, the woman was married to Anand Kurmi of Parasri Tyonda village five years ago. Soon after the marriage, the in-laws allegedly began mentally and physically torturing her for more dowry.

"They had demanded Rs one lakh during the wedding, which we paid,'' said victim's father Ram Kisan, a farmer with a meagre land holding of 2.5 acre.

"But they kept making demands even after the marriage. They wanted a colour television, motorbike, tractor and Rs one lakh more in cash. They would beat my daughter and wouldn't give her food," he said.

When the girl, then aged 16, got pregnant - the in-laws, including brother-in-law Niraj, his wife Uma Bai and mother-in-law Kala Bai forced her to abort the child. Two years after the marriage, the in-laws decided that she was no longer going to live with them in the same house.

The life of the hapless woman was even beyond the imagination of a Bollywood script writer. The in-laws locked the girl, then 16 and pregnant, with cows and buffaloes in the cowshed. For days on end, she had to go without food and water. A neighbour, identified as Guddu Maharaj and his friends, repeatedly raped her for months in the cowshed.

Husband Anand Kurmi, in the meantime, allegedly shifted the victim to a relative's house in Khurai 25 km away. Here, the relative, a middle-aged Ram Singh and his sons Narendra and Lokendra did not spare the girl. Father and sons allegedly locked the girl in the house and raped her for more than 20 days. The barbarity did not stop at it. Ram Singh sold the victim to a moneylender Dwarka Prasad from Mahuna village near Khurai in May this year. Ram Singh claimed he was the father of the girl and the deal was finalised for Rs 50,000 in cash and one acre land in Mahuna. The young woman's troubles did not end and her sexual exploitation continued. When she fell critically ill one day, a neighbour in Mahuna village, identified as Khadak Singh, assured that he would take to a hospital for treatment. But on the way to the health centre, the woman was raped by him too. She was brought back to the moneylender's house where by sheer chance, a cousin of her spotted the woman.

"We kept visiting her in-law's residence in Parasri Tyonda," said Ram Kisan, his voice choked as he spoke. "They said we could not meet her till we gave the dowry. I did not have the faintest idea that my daughter was going through hell. Then word reached us that she was in a moneylender's house in Khurai and had been sold. This made the family to rush and rescue her from the monsters," he added.

On June 28, the victim was rescued by her family members and brought to her father's house in Madhdevra village. Two days later, they decided to go to the police and report the matter.

Police registered a case against ten persons, including husband, in-laws and others under Sections 498A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty), 372 (selling minor for purpose of prostitution), 376 (rape), 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage), 450 (house trespass), 294 (obscenity), 506 (criminal intimidation), 34 (common intention) of the IPC. Police arrested three of the accused, including Khadak Singh, who raped her on the way to the health centre, moneylender Dwarka Prasad and Ram Singh, who sold the victim.


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Agencies
July 17,2020

New Delhi, Jul 17: The first FIR against Volkswagen and Audi in India for installing cheat devices in their cars to misrepresent emissions has been filed in Noida.

The FIR was filed by Noida resident Aniljit Singh against the top officials of Volkswagen and Audi in India and their headquarters in Germany. These include Rahil Ansari, Brand Director, Audi India, Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head, Audi India, and Bram Schot, Chairman, Audi AG.

The FIR reviewed by media agency cites forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The complaint has cited the global emissions scandal where VW was found to be installing a cheat device in its cars, in the absence of which, the cars produced 10-40 times emissions beyond the permissible limits.

The complainant said that in 2018 he had purchased seven Audi cars worth crores of rupees. At the time of taking the delivery, the complainant said that he inquired if the cheat devices were installed in India and he was told by the company that they were not, as in India's emission norms were not as stringent and the country being a growing market for Audi, no such device was implanted.

The complaint said that the authorities in India observed that Audi cars' emissions for nitrogen oxide were 5-8 times the permissible limits and after the National Green Tribunal imposed a penalty of Rs 500 crore on VW, the complainant realised that he had been duped of his hard earned money.

He alleged that the accused persons had misrepresented the complainant by forging the documents and devices and caused wrongful gains to themselves and wrongful losses to the complainant. These officials had made wrong records to capture the market, with malafide intent and under a pre-planned conspiracy had induced and defrauded the complainant.

The accused persons are guilty of cheating the customers and have induced the complainant to part with hard earned money for sub-standard cars. The accused are also guilty of forging the documents on which they had sought various clearances.

The complainant has demanded that the allegations may be thoroughly investigated by a senior official.

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Agencies
February 26,2020

Kota, Feb 26: At least 24 people died and four others sustained injuries as a private bus carrying a wedding party fell into a river on Kota–Dausa highway in Bundi district on Wednesday morning, police said.

The wedding party with 28 persons on board was headed to Sawai Madhopur from Kota early morning when the driver apparently lost balance of the bus while traversing a bridge near Papdi village under Lekhari police station limits, Lakheri Sub-Inspector Rajendra Kumar said.

The bus, subsequently, plunged into Mej river from the bridge that had no wall or railing, Kumar said.

Thirteen people died on the spot while 10 others succumbed to their injuries on way to hospital, he added.

The deaths include 11 men, 10 women and three children.

The injured were rushed to Lekhari government hospital from where the critically injured are being referred to a government hospital in Kota, the SI further said.

Most of the injured people were rescued with the help of locals in the village, he added.

Mej river is a tributary of the Chambal river in Rajasthan.

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Agencies
May 26,2020

New Delhi, May 26: A massive fire broke out on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday in the slums of the Tughlaqabad area in south east Delhi in which over 250 shanties were gutted, however, no one was injured, fire officials said.

Atul Garg, Chief Fire Officer, told IANS, "We came to know about the fire in the slums around 12.15 a.m. following which 28 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. And the fire was brought under control by 4 a.m."

He said, the Tughalaqbad slums have over 500 shanties, out of which over 250 have been destroyed in the fire.

He said, it took time for the fire tenders to reach the spot as it was on the hills, but the fire was doused within four hours and by 8 a.m. cooling off procedure has also been completed.

When asked if there is any casualty in the incident, he said, "No injury or casualty has been reported."

He also said that as of now the actual reason for the fire is not known. "But we are trying to find out the reason of the fire," Garg added.

South East Deputy Commissioner of Police R.P. Meena said, "In the night it seemed that almost 500 shanties were gutted. However, in the morning it became clear that only 250 shanties have been gutted in fire."

He said, the South East district police after receiving the call also rushed the ambulances and the local police team in the area for rescue operation. Meena further said that very few people were residing in the shanties, and the people came out of their shanties after the fire broke out in one of them.

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