Delhi: Family alleges harassment for dowry after air hostess jumps off terrace in Hauz Khas
The woman’s father had lodged a complaint on June 27 alleging that her husband and in-laws were torturing her.
The parents of a 39-year-old air hostess, who committed suicide in Delhi’s Hauz Khas, have alleged that she was harassed by her husband for dowry, The Indian Express reported on Sunday.
Anissia Batra committed suicide by jumping off the terrace of her building in Panchsheel Park on Friday. A First Information Report under Section 304B (dowry death) of the Indian Penal Code was filed on Saturday night, but the police are yet to make any arrest.
The FIR alleged that Batra was assaulted by her husband, Mayank Singhvi, since the early days of her marriage. She allegedly had “marks on her body when she returned from her honeymoon”.
On June 27, Batra’s father, a retired Army major, filed a complaint at Hauz Khas police station expressing concern for her safety, before he left for Chandigarh. RS Batra in his complaint alleged that his daughter’s husband and in-laws tortured her, reported NDTV.
“She had sent a message to her husband Mayank [Singhvi], informing him that she was going to take the extreme step,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Romil Baaniya said, according to The Hindu. Baaniya said Singhvi was at home at that time and rushed to the terrace immediately, but did not find her. “She might have jumped immediately after sending the text,” Baaniya said. “She had fallen on the ground by the time the husband reached.”
Baaniya told The Indian Express that a sub-divisional magistrate inquiry too has been initiated since it’s been less that seven years of marriage.
Batra’s brother Karan alleged that Singhvi had assaulted her on several occasions since their wedding in 2016. “He even hit our mother once,” Karan Batra alleged. “My parents temporarily moved to Delhi from Chandigarh for her. They had to leave on June 27 for a medical emergency and filed the police complaint [before leaving].”
Karan Batra said the police assured his family that they had locked his sister’s apartment, but “Mayank went there last night, he has a spare key... they have removed all the evidence”, reported NDTV.
The family alleged the postmortem wasn’t “videographed as ordered by the SDM [sub-divisional magistrate]”. “...We are ready to get it done again once the family approves,” Baaniya said.