E-Paper
Husband, in-laws booked for abetment to suicide of woman
Husband, father-in-law, and sisters-in-law booked for abetting the suicide of a woman in Navi Mumbai who was allegedly harassed for being childless.
Navi Mumbai: The husband, father-in-law and sisters-in-law of a 35-year-old woman, who allegedly died by suicide, have been booked on charges of abetting her death.
The accused had been mentally harassing Rajeshwari Pawar, who belonged to Ahmednagar, for being childless after 12 years of marriage, according to Kalamboli Police.
Rajeshwari’s husband Natha Pawar, father-in-law Dashrath Pawar and sisters-in-laws Mangal Dhotre, Savita Patri and Sunita Dhotre have been booked under section 306 (abetment of suicide) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
Rajeshwari’s brother, Rajesh Dhotre registered a complaint with the police after her death on July 1.
According to the complainant, Rajeshwari sister had married Natha in 2011 and after two years of marriage, when the couple were childless, Natha, Dashrath and Mangal, Savita and Sunita started blaming her for not bearing a child.
Unable to bear the harassment, Rajeshwari went to her maternal home and narrated the ordeal. Her family then called upon Natha and suggested consulting a doctor and getting a few medical tests done to ascertain why the couple had not been able to bear a child.
The tests showed that Natha had medical issues and could never be a father. Over the next two years, there was no harassment and Rajesh even paid ₹3 lakh towards the renovation of Rajeshwari’s in-laws’ house.
However, after a few months, they started harassing Rajeshwari again over the issue of having no children.
“Along with harassing her for being childless, the in-laws started pressuring her to leave the house. The family started speaking about the second marriage of her husband,” said a police officer from Kalamboli police station.
“On June 26, a legal notice was served to Rajwashwari by her father-in-law asking her to leave the house, which belonged to him,” said the officer.
“When Rajeshwari narrated her ordeal to Rajesh, he asked her to return to her maternal home. However, she refused saying that if she leaves her in-laws’ house, she would never be able to return,” said the officer.
The officer said that on the same day, a little after midnight, Rajesh received a call from Natha informing him that Rajeshwari had tried to die by suicide and had been admitted to a hospital. At the hospital, she was put on a ventilator and was declared dead on July 1.
No arrests have been made yet, confirmed the police and investigations are on.
