Bengal: Man chops off wife’s hand after she gets govt job as a nurse

A 26-year-old man allegedly chopped off his wife’s hand in West Bengal’s East Burdwan district after she secured a job as a nurse at a government hospital as he feared she would be posted in some other city, officials said on Monday.

The man, Sher Md Sheikh, is absconding and the 24-year-old victim, Renu Khatun, is undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit of a private hospital in Durgapur city, the officials said.

According to officials, Khatun married Sheikh, who runs a grocery store at Kojalsa village in Ketugram area of the district, in October 2017.

In 2018, Khatun enrolled herself in a nursing course, and got a job at a private nursing home in Durgapur in West Burdwan, the officials said. Later, the officials said, she applied for a government job against Sheikh’s wishes.

On May 28 this year, Khatun was empanelled for the government job, following which an argument broke out between the couple, officials said.

“Preliminary investigations have revealed that Sheikh did not want Khatun to take up the job fearing that she could be posted in a different city,” an official at Ketugram police station, where the complaint was lodged, said.

Sheikh, and two of his accomplices, attacked Khatun when she was sleeping in their house around 1am on Sunday, the official said. “The accused first put a pillow on her face to muffle her screams and then chopped off her right hand,” the official said citing the complaint filed by Khatun’s father. The police are yet to recover the weapon used in the attack.

Sheikh then took Khatun to a hospital and fled the village, they said. He, however, left the severed hand at their home, the officials said.

“A case has been registered. The main accused is absconding. Preliminary investigations have revealed that he did this out of jealousy after his wife got a job,” said Kamanashish Sen, superintendent of police in East Burdwan.

The two accomplices are yet to be identified, the official cited in the first instance said.

Khatun’s family has alleged that Sheikh used to argue with her frequently over her job.

“He chopped off my sister’s hand just to disable her so that she can never work as a nurse,” Ripon Sheikh, the victim’s brother, said.

“It was my daughter’s dream to work as a nurse and serve society. Her dreams are shattered now. Since the day her name got empanelled, her husband threatened her that he won’t allow her to work as a nurse,” her father, Azizul Haque, said.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Commission for Women has taken cognisance of the case.

“It is a gruesome incident. We would ensure that the woman gets justice. The accused should get the strictest punishment,” said Leena Gangopadhyay, chairperson of the commission.