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
May 31,2020

Bareilly, May 31: The Bareilly couple who had made headlines in July last year when they eloped and apprehended a threat to their life from the girl's father who is a BJP MLA in UP, is back in the news.

Ajitesh, now son-in-law of BJP MLA Rajesh Mishra, and his friend were arrested on Saturday for allegedly thrashing a youth and snatching his cell phone after a minor road mishap in Prem Nagar area of Bareilly district.

Ajitesh is married to Sakshi, daughter of the MLA and the couple had eloped last year and got married.

According to police, the youth was on his way home after buying medicines for his friend's father when his bike hit Ajitesh's SUV. Ajitesh and his friend thrashed the youth and snatched his cell phone.

Police said Ajitesh and his friend Vaibhav Gangwar were booked under IPC section 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) and other relevant sections.

Both have been sent to jail.

The complainant Deepanshu Maheshwari said, "When I overtook Ajitesh's car, he chased and waylaid me in the middle of the road. Thereafter, he and his friend thrashed me and snatched my phone. SHO Balbir Singh and his team rescued me."

The SHO told reporters, "We checked CCTV footage and spoke to witnesses only to find that Ajitesh and his friend had thrashed the youth. A case was registered under relevant sections and both were sent to jail after being produced before a magistrate on Saturday. The youth has been admitted to a hospital and his condition is stable."

The BJP MLA, incidentally, had snapped all his ties with his daughter Sakshi after she eloped and married Ajitesh.

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News Network
July 12,2020

Tamil Nadu, Jul 12: An alleged attempt by a 19-year-old man to "open a branch of the State Bank of India" at Panruti near Tamil Nadu was scuttled and he was arrested for forgery, police said on Saturday.

The man, son of retired SBI employees, had readied fake seals and challans of the public sector lender, and had other paraphernalia like a cash counting machine needed "to run a bank branch," on an upper floor of his residence at Panruti, about 25 km from Tamil Nadu.

He had not, however, put up any signboard. The SBI Panruti branch manager lodged a complaint with police seeking action following a tip-off by a customer that the man was "opening an SBI branch and has challans as well."

A printer who printed the challans and another who had made fake seals were held for similar offences and abetment.

They were produced before a magistrate court and enlarged on bail.

Asked if the man had cheated people by soliciting deposits or facilitating loans, Panruti police inspector K Ambethkar said, "no..we have not received any such complaint so far."

The man's late father had worked for SBI and his mother had retired from the same bank some time back, he said.

To a question, the police inspector said the man's mother, who has mobility issues, and another woman a relative living in the same house had no clue about his "idea."

Investigations revealed that he aspired to work for a bank and since he had closely watched banking operations for long he was "very knowledgeable" about it.

On the suspected motive, he said several of his replies were incomprehensible, childish, and strange notwithstanding his excellent understanding of the banking processes.

"He even calmly told us that he awaited approval from Mumbai to open the (SBI) branch and that he was about to put up a signboard," the inspector said, adding that the man had tried unsuccessfully to get employment on compassionate grounds in the SBI following the death of his father in harness.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Nagpur, Jan 28: A 19-year-old woman was allegedly raped and an iron rod was inserted in her private parts by a man in the Pardi area here, police said on Monday.

The gruesome incident took place on January 21 and the accused, Yogilal Rahangdale (52), was arrested from Gondia district, they said.

The accused was working as a supervisor in a spinning mill where the woman was employed as a labourer, the police said.

The woman, her brother, the accused and another girl lived in rented accommodations in Pardi.

Inspector Sunil Chavan of the Pardi police station said that the woman's brother and her female friend had gone to their village on January 21 for some work.

As the woman was alone at home, Rahangdale attempted to rape her in the night. When she resisted, he stuffed a piece of cloth in her mouth, he said.

When she fell unconscious, the accused raped her and inserted an iron rod in her private parts, Chavan said, quoting from the complaint filed by the victim.

She narrated the incident to her brother on January 24 and they subsequently lodged a complaint with the police.

An offence was registered against the accused at the Pardi police station.

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