A week after a 33-year-old woman killed herself in south-east Delhi’s Jaitpur alleging harassment by her partner, the Delhi police said an FIR has been registered in the case under sections amounting to abetment of suicide and rape.
In her suicide note, the deceased had claimed that she was forced to undergo abortion 14 times by her live-in partner who refused to marry her. The couple was in a relationship for eight years and the accused had established physical relations with the woman several times on the pretext of marriage.
DCP (South East) Esha Pandey said a complaint was received on July 5 regarding a lady found in an unconscious state inside her room. The woman was then taken to AIIMS hospital where the doctors declared her dead.
The police then inspected the area and recovered the mobile phone of the deceased. The DCP said the woman was separated from her husband for around eight years.
On July 7, a post-mortem was conducted and her family was informed of her death. “Her father and brother were called for a medical test,” Ms. Pandey said.
The police recovered a note written in Hindi and the viscera was handed over by the doctors to the police.
A senior police officer said the deceased had alleged in her note that she was in a relationship with a man who had established physical relations on the pretext of marriage and made her undergo abortion 14 times by giving her medication for the same. The note further said that before the incident, the couple had a heated argument over getting married, and upon refusal by the accused, the woman took her life as there was “no other option left”.
“We have registered a case against the accused on Tuesday under sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 376 (rape) and 313 (causing miscarriage without women’s consent) of the Indian Penal Code and further investigation is underway,” Ms. Pandey said.
The officer said the woman did not work and her partner was bearing all the expenses for the couple.
The woman’s husband, who works at a private company, told the police that the woman was living separately since 2014 due to matrimonial disputes.
Harassment by husband
The deceased’s brother told The Hindu thathis sister was constantly harassed by her husband since 2006. “She remained worried most of the time. He (sister’s husband) would assault her after consuming alcohol and made her life miserable. Not just him but his family was harassing her too. After some years she gathered the courage and left him,” he said.
The brother added that the deceased had two daughters aged 12 and 14 years. She had filed a case against her husband in 2016 regarding assault, but she couldn’t get justice, the brother said.
The deceased’s daughters live in a hostel in Delhi and she did not leave the city for her daughter’s education. “We kept calling her back to Bihar because we were aware her mental health might deteriorate, but she refused” he added.
The brother said he wasn’t aware of his sister’s relationship with the accused. “We had no idea the man was assaulting her for such a long time,” he said.
Suicide prevention helpline: Sanjivini, Society for Mental Health; telephone: 011-40769002, Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-7.30 p.m.
