Victims' silence common factor in dowry deaths

Divya's hopes for a happy married life were shattered within 10 days of marriage. The harassment had made the 26-year-old talk about leaving her husband to her parents, who had often shushed her up fearing social stigma. Adjust, that’s what she had been told. She did that by hanging herself in her Dwarka Sector 6 flat on Saturday evening.

Divya's hopes for a happy married life were shattered within 10 days of marriage. The harassment had made the 26-year-old talk about leaving her husband to her parents, who had often shushed her up fearing social stigma. Adjust, that’s what she had been told. She did that by hanging herself in her Dwarka Sector 6 flat on Saturday evening.

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"She was being harassed by her in-laws and husband as we gave them a Hyundai i10 car instead of a Ford Endeavour. At that time, we took the matter casually,” said Divya’s father Jai Inder Singh, a senior official in the Directorate of Education. Her father now holds himself responsible for Divya’s early demise. “Her husband Devendra Singh used to beat her up regularly. She bore it in silence for one-and-half years to protect our reputation,” he added.

Adding to his woes is the lackadaisical attitude of the Dwarka south police. Though three days have passed since Divya’s death, her body’s post mortem exam has not been carried out since the family’s demand that a panel of doctors carry out the test has not been accepted.

Mamta had jumped off the building of her Triveni apartment flat in Vivek Vihar. A mother of two, she had been tolerating the harassment for the sake of her children. Her husband had almost abandoned for another woman, and her in-laws used to treat her like a maid.

Another victim of dowry violence, Rakhi, is battling for her life at Safdarjung Hospital. She had been set on fire by her husband in front of her in-laws as her parents had failed to give him a motorcycle. “In her statement, Rakhi said her husband Sumit came home in an inebriated condition on Saturday night and dragged her to the first floor of their Najafgarh house. There, he poured kerosene oil on her and set her on fire,” said Rakhi’s mother Kitabo Devi.

Neetu’s case, the alleged fourth victim of dowry death, is quite similar, say her parents. She had been found dead at her flat in east Delhi’s Mansarovar Park. The police have initiated a probe into her death.