Delhi: Man stabs wife multiple times, kills self in Ghaziabad flat

The woman miraculously survived the vicious attack, and is undergoing treatment at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital in west Delhi

The husband of a 22-year-old woman stabbed her at least 30 times on her face and neck with a surgical blade at her mother’s house in West Delhi’s Khyala on Thursday, police said, and after thinking he’d killed her, died by suicide at a house in Ghaziabad’s Loni the following day.

Police said the couple would fight often. (Picture for representation only)

The woman, however, miraculously survived the vicious attack, and is undergoing treatment at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital in west Delhi.

The man’s actions were likely prompted by a petty argument between the couple, and the two would often quarrel with each other, the woman’s family told police during preliminary investigations.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (west) Urvija Goel said the incident was first reported to the Police Control Room by the staff of a private hospital in Paschim Vihar on Thursday. The hospital staff told police that they admitted a woman with stab wounds, and that she was attacked at her mother’s house, possibly by her husband. The woman was later shifted to DDU hospital.

A police team recorded the statement of the woman’s mother, and an FIR under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Khyala police station on the basis of the complaint. A team was formed to nab the accused, the DCP said.

An investigator aware of the details of the probe said that, according to woman’s mother, her daughter had come to her house on Wednesday after a fight with her husband. The woman’s mother lives alone.

In her complaint to the police, the mother said that her daughter’s husband followed her, and was trying to persuade her to return to their house in Loni’s Naseeb Vihar area. When she refused, the husband stayed back with her on Wednesday night. On Thursday, at around 7.30pm, while the woman’s mother was out to buy groceries, the man allegedly attacked his wife with a surgical blade. According to the doctors, there were at least 30 stab wounds on her neck and face.

The police team raided multiple locations in the city after gathering details about the man’s whereabouts, but could not find him. On Friday, they got a tip-off that he was hiding in a vacant house owned by his brother-in-law in Loni’s Ambedkar Colony, the officer cited above said.

The brother-in-law accompanied the police team to Loni, where they found the house latched from inside. When they peeked inside from a window, Ram Kumar was seen hanging from the ceiling, ostensibly dead by suicide, the DCP said.

Police said that, according to the man’s family, he had a drug addiction and shared a strained relationship with his wife. They said that the woman complained to them about her husband.

The incident came to light a day after a similar crime was reported from Saket where a 57-year-old man allegedly killed his wife at their home on Friday evening, and then tried to take his own life by slashing his neck with a kitchen knife, after an argument between the two. Police said they were trying to ascertain the exact motive and circumstances of the crime.

Rajat Mitra, a clinical psychologist, said long relationships or social bonds are no guarantee against domestic violence. He said the reasons in each case are different, and each perpetrator is driven by different motives. “It is very difficult to generalise because each domestic or relationship violence case is unique. So, it can have a different motive like a 57-year-old man will have a different reason than the person in 20s or 30s. Having a relationship for a long time is no defence against violence. There can be a wide variety of reasons behind the domestic violence. For example, it can be a mental disorder, suppressed rage and humiliation that the man may be carrying inside, or may be the man completely feels that it’s a case of infidelity.”

Mitra further elaborated that the law and criminal justice system see domestic violence as something that happens within the periphery of home. “They also feel that it is something that best be left to the couple. But when this first happens, it continues. The law usually takes the position that the couple can sort it out between each other with the help of counselling. But almost 35% cases cannot be solved through counselling, they need special care because the man may have a mental disorder, may be feeling suspicious, or is unable to hold back his emotions. He may have an explosive personality disorder, which cannot be cured by just counselling or medication. What is important is that the woman must get away at the very first instance of violence. It’s a warning,” he added.