RAJBIRAJ, APRIL 28
A woman who was reinstated in her husband's home following an order from the court has been subjected to severe beating from her in-laws in Rupani of Saptari.
Twenty-seven-year-old Laxmi Bhagat was thrashed by her husband Sajib, parents in law Shivadayal and Sita, and sisters-in-law Anju and Ranju three days ago in Birendra Bazaar of Rupani Rural Municipality.
After being thrashed for not bringing enough dowry, and recently, reaching out to police and the court against the abuse she was meted out, she was admitted to local Gajendra Narayan Singh Hospital.
Admitted to the emergency ward, Laxmi has received serious injuries all over her body, including on her back, shoulders and head.
"I was taking out clothes from the cupboard when they accosted me asking why I had opened the cupboard and started beating me indiscriminately with whatever they could get hold of, such as pipes, sticks and fists, until I passed out," the victim said, adding that her neighbours who came to her rescue after hearing the clamour brought her to the hospital for treatment.
According to Laxmi's father Rajendra Sah, doctors, citing her condition, have recommended that she be taken elsewhere for further treatment.
Laxmi had tied the knot with Sajib, owner of a petrol station, four years ago. She had started to experience physical abuse soon after her marriage, over dowry. "I had to sell a piece of land to marry off my daughter, but as later they sought additional dowry, I told them I couldn't manage that, they started treating her worse," lamented the father.
Unable to put up with the domestic violence, she had turned to Saptari District Court for justice and filed a case against her husband's family. "I returned home after the court ordered them (the defendants) to allow me to stay in the house with full respect, but to no avail. They started torturing me even more," the victim said.
District Police Office Saptari DSP Madhav Prasad Kafle informed that police had arrested the woman's husband Sanjib today. "We've released the father in law on account of his poor health for now, but investigation is under way," he said.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 29, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
