Delhi: Woman found hanging, kin allege torture

The police said though the victim, Rajni (who goes by just one name), left a suicide note behind, her parents have cried foul and claimed that she was murdered by her husband.

A 28-year-old woman was found hanging at her residence in southeast Delhi’s Govindpuri on Thursday morning.

Rajni , who committed suicide.

The police said though the victim, Rajni (who goes by just one name), left a suicide note behind, her parents have cried foul and claimed that she was murdered by her husband.

Based on the statement of Rajni’s father, the police booked Rajni’s husband Sandeep and his family for cruelty and investigating the dowry death angle, an offence which can attract a maximum punishment of seven years.

Deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said the woman has been identified as Rajni, who lived with her husband Sandeep and his family in Govindpuri’s Jatav Mohalla.

Sandeep, who works at the token counter of Delhi Metro, told the police that he had woken up around 6.30am and gone to the terrace for a walk. When he returned after half-an-hour, he saw his wife hanging with a dupatta from a ceiling fan in their room. He immediately brought her down and raised an alarm following which Sandeep’s brother Ravi made a call to the police control room.

Police said that they received the call around 7am in which the caller said that a woman had committed suicide in their home.

“When a police team reached the spot, they found a note, purportedly left by Rajni. In it she had written that she was childless and hence she was committing suicide,” said Biswal.

The body was later moved to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for autopsy.

Since the deceased had been married for less than 7 years, an executive magistrate conducted an inquest under section 176 of the Criminal Procedure Code during which he spoke to the family members of the deceased. Rajni’s father Balu Ram told the magistrate that his daughter was being tortured by her in-laws.

They also told the magistrate that his daughter married Sandeep in 2012 and soon after marriage, he and his family members had started harassing her.

“On the basis of their statement, we have registered a case under Section 304B (dowry death), 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code at Govindpuri police station,” said Biswal.