Teh One Who Knocks
09-19-2014, 10:30 AM
Agencia EFE
A woman in the eastern state of Bihar was kept locked in a bathroom for three years by her husband and in-laws for failing to pay the marriage dowry they demanded, Indian authorities said Tuesday.
The young woman was rescued Sunday from a house in the town of Darbhanga, where she was held in a "small space" and was fed irregularly, police spokesperson Seema Kumari told the PTI news agency.
The 25-year-old woman was found in tattered clothes, with overgrown fingernails and unkempt hair.
Shortly after their wedding in 2010, the husband and members of his family began to torture her, a situation that only worsened after she gave birth to a girl, who she was not allowed to see during her captivity.
"The first thing she did was ask about her 3-year-old daughter. Seeing that the girl did not recognize her, she began to cry inconsolably," Kumari said.
Police arrested the victim's husband and in-laws after the woman's father complained that they had resorted to threats to prevent him from seeing his daughter.
Many women in India are forced to pay dowries to the husbands and in-laws. Though forbidden by law, the practice has become even more common with the arrival of modernity and consumerism.
In one case that recently came to light, a woman in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh was burnt alive by her husband and mother-in-law for not paying enough.
Anywhere from 25,000 to 100,000 women are killed every year in India for economic reasons related to marriage, according to data provided by the Vicente Ferrer Foundation. EFE
A woman in the eastern state of Bihar was kept locked in a bathroom for three years by her husband and in-laws for failing to pay the marriage dowry they demanded, Indian authorities said Tuesday.
The young woman was rescued Sunday from a house in the town of Darbhanga, where she was held in a "small space" and was fed irregularly, police spokesperson Seema Kumari told the PTI news agency.
The 25-year-old woman was found in tattered clothes, with overgrown fingernails and unkempt hair.
Shortly after their wedding in 2010, the husband and members of his family began to torture her, a situation that only worsened after she gave birth to a girl, who she was not allowed to see during her captivity.
"The first thing she did was ask about her 3-year-old daughter. Seeing that the girl did not recognize her, she began to cry inconsolably," Kumari said.
Police arrested the victim's husband and in-laws after the woman's father complained that they had resorted to threats to prevent him from seeing his daughter.
Many women in India are forced to pay dowries to the husbands and in-laws. Though forbidden by law, the practice has become even more common with the arrival of modernity and consumerism.
In one case that recently came to light, a woman in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh was burnt alive by her husband and mother-in-law for not paying enough.
Anywhere from 25,000 to 100,000 women are killed every year in India for economic reasons related to marriage, according to data provided by the Vicente Ferrer Foundation. EFE