Woman dies of burns, husband and in-laws held

NEW DELHI: A 24-year-old woman died after suffering burn injuries in her husband’s house in Vikaspuri, west Delhi, on Friday. Based on her dying statement in hospital, police have arrested her husband and two other members of his family.

Vijay Kumar, DCP (West), said that police received a call on Friday night about a woman being set afire in Vikaspuri. At the house, the cops found Parvinder Kaur down with burn injuries. There was a strong smell of kerosene in the air. Kaur lay next to some charred items of clothing, a broken fan and three buckets.

Police took her to Safdarjung Hospital, where she later succumbed to her injuries, but not before describing to the cops what had happened to her.

Kumar said, “In her statement, the victim alleged that she was set on fire by her husband and in-laws over dowry demands. Consequent to her statement, we filed a case under Indian Penal code Section 388 (extortion by threat), 302 (murder) and 34 (act done by several person).” Kumar added that Kaur’s husband, Gurcharan Singh (27), brother-in-law Prabhjot Singh (25) and father-in-law Rawel Singh (62) had been arrested in connection with her death.

Kaur’s family members told the cops that she had married Gurcharan Singh, who has an auto spare parts business in Mayapuri, in 2012. “It was a love marriage,” disclosed Amandeep Singh, the deceased woman’s brother. “Everything was fine until their son was born four years ago. After that, her husband’s family started demanding money from her. We tried to meet their demands.” But whenever Kaur’s family failed to provide the sum demanded, the woman would face abuse and harassment at the hands of Gurcharan’s family.

The victim’s family stated that there was a fight over dowry demands 15 days ago and a complaint had been lodged at Vikaspuri police station.  The angry in-laws had sent Kaur back to her family.

“She was living with us since, but had not brought her clothes or other belongings from her husband’s house,” said another relative of Kaur. “Gurcharan Singh was not on talking terms with her.”

Kaur’s relatives claimed that she had gone back to her husband’s house on Friday to retrieve her son’s clothes and also to meet Gurcharan. There, she was apparently attacked and set on fire, a family member alleged, adding that some other people were also attacked by Gurcharan’s relatives when they tried to rescue Kaur.

Credit:
The Times of India: August 20, 2017 : Page 3