HC asks police to probe 2006 case of woman’s death

The family of a woman who died in 2006 has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court asking that her husband and in-laws be charged with her death. The HC has now asked the Bhoiwada police to look into the case.

The family of a woman who died in 2006 has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court asking that her husband and in-laws be charged with her death. The HC has now asked the Bhoiwada police to look into the case.

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Additional public prosecutor Jayesh Yagnik informed the court, on Tuesday, that the police had sent a copy of the medical report of the woman, Nilu Jha, to an expert for an opinion. “After receiving the expert’s opinion, we will see whether there is need to enhance the charges in the case,” Yagnik said. The case is likely to come up for hearing on October 1.

The police had already registered a case of harassment against Nilu’s husband and in-laws in April 2007.

Sudhadevi Choudhary and Phoolkant Choudhary, in their petition filed against the Bhoiwada police station, Kalachowkie police station and KEM Hospital, have said that on August 26, 2006, they received a call from their son-in-law, informing them that Nilu had delivered a baby boy and her condition was very serious at KEM Hospital.

“They (the Choudharys) rushed to KEM Hospital, but were told that their daughter had already died,” the petition said. Further, when they confronted Nilu’s in-laws, they allegedly banged Sudhadevi’s head against the wall.

The Choudharys have also said that later the Bhoiwada police registered non-cognisable complaints against both families. The Choudharys have also said that their son wrote a letter to the post mortem department of the hospital requesting them not to hand over Nilu’s body to anybody without their consent.

However, Nilu’s father-in-law produced a letter claiming to be sent by Nilu’s husband, on August 26, 2006, to Bhoiwada police station authorising his father to complete the last rites. The petition also said the police recorded the statement of the father-in law stating that he did not have any complaint nor did he suspect anything in Nilu’s death saying even Nilu’s brother had given in writing to hand over the body to her father-in-law.

“Nilu’s in-laws later forged a letter by the Kalachowkie police station authorising Nilu’s father-in-law to take possession of Nilu’s body for cremation,” Choudhary’s advocate, Sushan Kunjuraman, said.

According to the petition, the Choudharys got the letter sent by KEM Hospital to Bhoiwada police station in which cause of death was shown as ‘unknown’. The Choudharys in their petition also said that on April 2007 the police registered a case of harassment against Nilu’s husband and her in-laws. On June 2008, Bhoiwada police registered a case of forgery and cheating against Nilu’s father- in-law for allegedly forgoing the letter by Kalachowkie police station.

“They all were arrested and were later released on bail and the trial pending in both the cases”, said Kunjuraman.