Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Jan 22: A 30-year-old housewife approached Mahila police station Thursday to register a complaint against her husband for allegedly beating her up and attempting to prove her ‘insane’ to build up a divorce case against her.
“Once he beat me with a stick because of which my hip joints were swollen and I couldn’t walk for a week,” Rajni (name changed) said in a quivering voice.
Vishwaketan Sambha, 35, a resident of Kalinganagar, married Rajni three years ago, according to a complaint lodged by Rajni. Seven months into the marriage, he allegedly started harassing her mentally and physically.
“I endured for years until my body could no longer take it,” Rajni, who had a black scar around her eyes and swollen lips. “He would beat up me regularly on petty things such as not liking the vegetable dish that I cooked,” she said.
Rajni said she was deliberately ex-communicated by her husband and mother-in-law so that they could tell people that she was mad. “He would talk to his sister-in-law always after locking me in the room,” Rajni said.
Under the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, a person can seek divorce on grounds that the spouse is suffering from mental illness.
Rajni also said that her husband took away her jewelery on the pretext of keeping it safe and did not return it. “He once told me that a number of robberies are being committed in our neighbourhood, so I should give my jewelery to him to keep it safe. However, he doesn’t acknowledge that I ever gave him my jewelery,” Rajni said.
“I’m very nervous. The three years of subjugation and abuse made me very dependent and fragile. I get anxious at every small thing,” said Rajni, who would often pause before speaking again.
Earlier when Rajni had approached the Mahila police station, she had agreed to a compromise. “Six months ago, when I wrote the complaint I didn’t write about everything that he did to me because I wanted us to be a family. I agreed to compromise, but he became more abusive and would beat me up regularly,” Rajni said.
