DOWRYRELATED CASES IN DELHI HAVE DOUBLED IN 5 YEARS
n resources engineering master’s, she got married in 2013 but was living separately i n t he IIT hostel. Theirs was an arranged marriage.
Though the police did not find any suicide note, Manjula’s parents had accused Ritesh of harassing her for dowry and forcing her to demand money from them to start a business.
A sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) had conducted an inquiry and a case of dowry death was registered nearly a Manjula Devak, 28, a civil engineer pursuing PHD from IIT Delhi, was found hanging in her hostel room on May 29. Her parents alleged that her husband, Ritesh, harassed her for dowry.
From 2,046 cases in 2012 to 3,877 in 2016, dowry cases have almost doubled in the last five years. On August 14, 2017, HT published a special report about Delhi’s dowry-related cases registered in the first 6 months of 2017. It found that the tradition of dowry is prevalent across demographics. According to the statement of women in FIRS, their family’s were bullied for many types of dowry items -
month later, on June 1.
Standing outside the All India Institute of Medical Sciences mortuary a day after the suicide, Manoj Devak, Manjula’s father, told this correspondent: “It was a mistake to educate my daughter and send her to IIT. I should have saved all the money for her dowry.”
In the FIR, Manoj, a railway employee, alleged that Manjula was regularly beaten and harassed by her husband for dowry. He alleged that after around two from an Audi to a buffalo, to a motorcycle or a house.
Between 2012 and October 15, 2017, at least 818 women died in dowry-related cases in Delhi. This year till October 15, 103 women have died in alleged dowry death cases.
On October 13, 2017 the SC said it would re-consider its threemonth-old ruling that restricted automatic arrests in dowry harassment cases, terming the judgment detrimental to women’s rights. The July order was passed in the backdrop of allegations that women and police were misuing the antidowry law.
years of their marriage, Ritesh had quit his job and was staying with Manjula at her hostel in IIT. But, for the past one year she was staying separately in the hostel.
According to Manoj’s statement, Ritesh allegedly asked Manjula for around ₹25 lakh to start a business and threatened divorce if the money was not paid.
The SDM and police team probing the case took statement of Manjula’s cousins and friends