Odisha woman 'tortured for dowry', in-laws booked

Jajpur: A disturbing video purportedly showing a woman being tortured by her in-laws in Dhaneswar village under Korei Police limits in Jajpur district has gone viral on social media. The woman was reportedly thrashed and tortured for dowry.

While any form of torture or harassment of a woman with the very objective of forcing her to meet a demand for property is penalised as per the law, the viral video from Odisha exposed that women are still falling prey to the dowry evil.

While narrating her ordeal, Sanjana Behera (the woman who is seen being tortured by her in-laws in the video) said that she married Ganeswar Behera of Dhaneswar village in 2016, and everything was fine for almost a year. However, things changed after 2017, as her in-laws allegedly started torturing her both physically and mentally demanding dowry.

Further speaking her heart out, Sanjana said that there were times when the torture became unbearable for her and she attempted suicide, but failed. "My in-laws had also given me poison in the past and used to hit me in the head to kill me," alleged Sanjana.

Yesterday, (September 25), she was allegedly tortured by her in-laws once again for dowry. But the video of the said incident soon went viral and following a complaint by Sanjana, police arrested her husband Ganeswar, father-in-law and mother-in-law.

However, her in-laws have denied the torture allegations. "We have not tortured her for dowry," said Uma Parida, mother-in-law of Sanjana.

Meanwhile, Jajpur ASP Akshya Kumar Das said, "We will take stern action against the accused so that no one will ever dare in future to resort to such torture for dowry."

"There's a need of social introspection. It's not a good sign as it will put a negative impact on the future generations," said social activist, Rutuparna Mohanty.