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Bhubaneswar, Jan 27: A pregnant woman succumbed to her injuries Sunday after she was allegedly burnt by her in-laws for dowry. The victim’s father Tuesday approached the State Commission for Women (OSCW) alleging his daughter was tortured before being set on fire.
Kiranbala Behera alias Queen (24), a resident of Galupada, was in labour for seven-month when she was burnt by her in-laws and husband by dousing kerosene, Saturday. She was, however, rushed to a government hospital by neighbours. Later, her father got her admitted to a private hospital in Cuttack where she succumbed to her injuries.
Complainant Lakhmidhar Behera, a resident of Venupur in Khurda district, wrote in his petition, Queen had suffered 95 per cent burns. Alleging she had been mentally and physically tortured by her husband and in-laws since her marriage in 2011, he said Queen had a two and half year old daughter, named Shubhadra.
Queen’s father, a vegetable vendor, told Orissa Post a month ago that his son-in-law Nimay Behera alias Mantu, a resident of Galupada, had left his daughter at his house after beating her up.
“Her husband would quite often thrash her. His in-laws would harass her for dowry asking to bring more money from me,” Behera said.
‘‘When Mantu left Queen at our place, we tried to reconcile hoping she would stay with her husband and then I let her go. But, soon, her in-laws again demanded money from us,” he added.
Cases under section 498(A) (cruelty by husband and relatives), 307 (attempt to murder), 34 (act done by several persons with same intention) and section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 were registered by the Jagatsinghpur police.
Queen’s father-in-law Jhatu Behera, mother-in-law Surma Behera, Nimay Behera alias Mantu (husband), Kuni Behera (sister-in-law), Mani (sister-in-law), Ajaya Sahoo (brother-in-law), Debaki, Banamber Sahoo (pisa) have been named as accused in the FIR (No. 0021).
However, Jagatsinghpur deputy superintendent of police Manoj Kumar Mahanta told this paper, “In our preliminary inquiry, it appeared to be a case of suicide as her in-laws were not allowing her to visit her father’s home.”
None of the accused has been arrested so far, Jagatsinghpur police said.
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