The Tribune, February 19 and 21, 2005

Terrorised by in-laws, ignored by police
No action on NCW’s order
Hisar, February 18
A case of inhuman treatment of a daughter of a retired university professor and indifferent attitude of the police towards her plight has come to light.

Editorial: Served them right, Pooja!

Himanshi and her father, Dr G.C. Chaturvedi.

Terrorised by in-laws, ignored by police
No action on NCW’s order
Sunit Dhawan
Tribune News Service

Hisar, February 18
A case of inhuman treatment of a daughter of a retired university professor and indifferent attitude of the police towards her plight has come to light. Talking to The Tribune at her house here today, the girl, Himanshi, alias Shivani, described her estranged husband Vineet Shankar Sharma as a “professional dowry-seeker”.

Himanshi’s father, Dr G.C. Chaturvedi, retired as a Professor in Veterinary Microbiology from Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) here in 2001. After his retirement, he remained in contact with a former colleague, Dr D.K. Sharma, who suggested a match for his daughter. Dr Chaturvedi was told that the prospective groom was working as a manager with some Netherlands-based company. As Dr Chaturvedi trusted his former colleague, he did not feel the need to enquire about the groom and his family. A few months later, Himanshi was married to Vineet, son of Dr L.D. Sharma of Hardwar. However, some time after her marriage, Himanshi came to know that Vineet had been married earlier with one Kamala Subramanian of Chennai and it was his second marriage.

“When I protested against the fraud played on me, I was thrashed mercilessly. I was not allowed to go out, nor was I given any money. Even the telephone set was locked to prevent me from talking to my parents,” Himanshi alleged. Moreover, adding insult to injury, the hapless girl was allegedly forced to bring more money from her father. “I had lost my mother and my father had already given enough money as dowry to my in-laws. But those merciless people kept on pestering me to ask my father for more money,” she maintains. As if this was not enough, Vineet allegedly forced Himanshi to consume liquor and some drugs. He even allegedly tried to poison her. When Himanshi refused to bow before the diktats of her in-laws, she was allegedly beaten up brutally. Following this, Vineet and his mother took the injured girl to her father’s house and virtually threw her before her family members.

Dr Chaturvedi got her medical examination done and reported the matter to the Crime Against Women cell of the district police. However, he did not get a satisfactory response from them. In the meanwhile, Himanshi was allegedly threatened by Vineet with dire consequences. “He even tried to blackmail me emotionally by mentioning that since my father was a heart patient, he would succumb to the pressure,” she alleged.

“I approached a number of police officials at Sant Kabir Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, which is my native place. I also went to lodge my complaint with the Chandigarh police as Himanshi and Vineet had shifted to Chandigarh some time after their marriage. However, no action was taken by the police in this regard,” he asserted. When all their efforts to get justice from the police authorities failed, Himanshi and her father approached the National Commission for Women (NCW). Following this, the commission directed the district police authorities to do the needful in this regard. On being contacted, the district police chief, Mr Attar Singh Ahlawat, stated that he would look into the matter and take prompt action. When the parents of Vineet’s first wife, Kamala, came to know about the matter, they were also moved by the plight of the hapless girl. Kamala’s mother, Ms S. Mahalakshmi, even wrote a letter to the NCW chairperson, vindicating the stance of Himanshi and her father.

In the letter, Ms Mahalakshmi, wife of Mr K.Subramanian, a retired Chief Engineer from the Department of Telecom, Chennai, writes that their daughter was also mentally harassed and badly treated by Vineet and his parents. They filed a case on grounds of cruelty and desertion at the Madras High Court and obtained a divorce in January, 2002. She alleges that despite the court’s verdict, the Sharmas did not return their dowry items.

Kamala’s mother has urged the NCW to do justice to Himanshi and her father and take strict action against Vineet and his parents. “Vineet is a sadist and without any commitment towards the marriage…cannot provide love and security to any girl he marries…Fuelling his behavior are his very greedy parents who have no sense of right and wrong,” she maintains in the letter.

New turn to Himanshi case
Tribune News Service

Hisar, February 20
Giving a new turn to the Himanshi case, the mediator has maintained that he had informed the girl’s family about Vineet’s first marriage when he suggested the match to them. The mediator, Dr D.K. Sharma, today told this correspondent in presence of Himanshi and her father, Dr G.C. Chaturvedi, that he had provided “every bit of information he had” to the girl’s family before the marriage was finalised. Endorsing his statement, Dr Chaturvedi stated that he had no grouse against Dr Sharma as he had always stood by him in his hour of need.

Significantly, Dr Sharma’s son is married with Vineet’s sister and this episode has strained their mutual relations. “When I came to know about the alleged inhuman treatment of Vineet and his family with Himanshi, I even submitted an affidavit in favour of Dr Chaturvedi and his daughter. I supported them without caring for the reaction of my son’s in-laws in this regard,” said Dr Sharma. Dr Sharma, who has retired as Director (Clinics) from Veterinary College of Haryana Agricultural University here, maintains that proper investigation should be carried out in this regard and the guilty punished. Meanwhile, a Lok Adalat in Chandigarh heard the case yesterday and told both parties to reconsider their stance and explore the possibility of reconciliation.