The woman’s parents have alleged that she had, in the past, complained of being harassed by her in-laws for dowry. (Representational Image)
A 28-year-old woman was beaten, strangulated and set ablaze in an alleged case of dowry death at Neemka village in Gautam Budh Nagar’s Jewar area on Monday, police said. According to police, the woman’s neighbour heard her screams and cries at 10 am and made a PCR call.
A police officer said, “When we reached the house, we saw her charred body. Her tongue was sticking out, and the front portion of her body was on fire. The body has been sent for post-mortem examination, and the report will be out on Tuesday. It is suspected that she was strangulated and her body was set on fire to make it look like a suicide.”
The woman, identified as Chanchal, had moved to Jewar from Bulandshahr five years ago when she got married. She has a four-year-old daughter.
The woman’s parents have alleged that she had, in the past, complained of being harassed by her in-laws for dowry.
“The woman’s parents said that a month ago, she had come to their home in Bulandshahr and was upset because her husband and his family were demanding dowry. The parents told police that they had intervened, and later assumed that the matter had been settled,” a police officer said. “The girl’s family has lodged a complaint on the basis of which a case has been filed under IPC Section 304B (dowry death). Further investigations are underway,” said Gautam Budh Nagar SP (Rural), Suniti.
Police maintained that the woman’s husband, father-in-law and brother-in-law are absconding. However, police have questioned her mother-in-law.
“The mother-in-law denied any involvement. However, prima facie it appears that she was severely beaten, strangulated and then burnt,” said the officer.
Police sources indicated that the nature of the burns, which covered the frontal area of her body, were at “odds with burns commonly seen in cases of self-immolation”. Sources added that “the tongue sticking out was consistent with strangulation”.
