A shocking video of a man assaulting his separated wife and mother-in-law in West Delhi’s Tilak Nagar went viral on Sunday. The victims raised several questions about the role of the police and onlookers who witnessed the episode.
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Nikhil Grover, who has been recorded assaulting his wife Kiranjeet and her mother Inderjeet in the video, has been arrested. Kiranjeet has been living with her parents’ for over a year now, a step she says she had to take to escape the torture she was subjected to by her husband and his dowry demands. The couple have also filed for a divorce.
Talking to The Hindu , Kiranjeet said even as Nikhil thrashed, kicked and punched them, in addition to hitting them with a glass bottle and trying to rip their clothes, they did not receive any help from those witnessing the incident.
Her version of the story explains how the events played out on the day (October 9) and how little help from the police could have saved the women from a brutal assault.
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“After Nikhil came to my parents’ house that morning, he abused me and my family, and left. Unable to bear any more, my mother and I decided to seek police help and called up the police control room. A PCR van arrived at the spot and we guided it to his shop. The PCR staff told us to go to the police station and left us behind without waiting for the other policemen to come. And as we set out for the police station in my two wheeler, he launched the attack,” she said.
She further added that when they reached the police station after the assault, the police registered a case under bailable sections, which meant that Nikhil was out soon after the arrest.
It was only after she submitted the video footage captured by an onlooker, the more stringent Section 354 (molestation) of the Indian Penal Code was added in the case and he was re-arrested.
The police, on the other hand, explained that initially only Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC (a non-congnisable criminal provision) was added and confirmed that it took the submission of the video to add Section 354 of IPC.
Ms. Inderjeet Singh added that Nikhil’s dowry demands started soon after the love marriage last year.
“We paid him some money. He said he would use it as an investment in an electrical shop business. Soon after receiving the money he assaulted my daughter claiming that ‘from the crores of rupees that your mother has, I was given a paltry sum of Rs.1 lakh’. That is when the torture started,” she said.
After Nikhil came to my parents’ house that morning, he abused
us and left. Unable to bear anymore, my mother and I decided to seek police help