Another dowry death in Delhi: ‘Beaten’ repeatedly for money, MBA grad hangs self

Deepensha Sharma, 28, hanged herself to death at her home in east Delhi. Her father said that her in-laws repeatedly harassed her and forced her to ask him for money.

An MBA graduate hanged herself from a ceiling fan at her east Delhi home after allegedly being harassed by her husband and in-laws for dowry, police said on Tuesday.

Deepensha Sharma held MBA and MCom degrees and was pursuing BEd as she wanted a teaching job at a government institute. (Picture: Sourced)

The suicide comes just days after a businessman’s daughter was burnt alive in west Delhi’s Vikaspuri for allegedly refusing to arrange Rs 10 lakh that her husband had been demanding.

The victim in the latest case is 28-year-old Deepensha Sharma who held MBA and MCom degrees and was pursuing BEd as she wanted a teaching job at a government institute. She was the mother of a one-and-a-half year old daughter.

At the time of her marriage in November 2014, Deepensha was an assistant professor at a college in Greater Noida. “But, her husband started suspecting her (character) and forced her to quit the job a few months after their marriage,” her father Rakesh Sharma said.

Her husband works with the technical team of a news channel. The couple lived with the husband’s parents in east Delhi’s Balbir Nagar.

According to her father, Deepensha was physically and mentally harassed for dowry ever since her marriage. “They would beat her if she refused to ask me for cash when they demanded it,” said Sharma, an LIC employee.

Read: 715 dowry related deaths in Delhi, but no convictions in last four years

Deepensha’s husband allegedly refused to fund her education or provide money for her basic needs. “I would keep giving her Rs 20,000-25,000 from time to time. The birth of her daughter around two years ago did not change her husband’s behaviour,” alleged Sharma.

On Rakshabandhan, Sharma again coughed up Rs 12,000 for a small television set, but Deepensha’s family was allegedly not happy with the amount.

On Monday evening, Sharma allegedly received a call from Deepensha’s in-laws that she had locked herself in a room and wasn’t opening the door. By the time Sharma reached there, she had already hanged herself from the ceiling fan using her chunni.

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“The door was broken open in the presence of the woman’s father. It was a suicide. No suicide note has been found,” said Nupur Prasad, DCP (Shahdara).

She said that since the couple was married for less than seven years, as per law the inquiry into the death will be made by a magistrate. A case under IPC 304B (dowry death) is likely to be registered after that, Prasad added.