PATNA: CID (weaker section) SP Bina Kumari was taken aback on Monday when a victim of domestic violence for dowry sitting before her received several threat calls from her husband lodged in police custody to withdraw the case against him. The SP immediately instructed her to record his calls.
The victim (31) is the daughter of a retired state government executive engineer. Her brother is a bank officer. The accused, Vishal Kumar, belongs to Mubarakpur under Shahpur police station area in western Patna. He used to work in merchant navy. Both had an intercaste marriage in February, 2017 and have a 3-year-old son.
The woman lodged an FIR against Vishal with Patliputra police station in Patna leading to his arrest late Sunday night after he created a ruckus allegedly in an inebriated state in front of her parent’s house. He was arrested for consuming liquor and sent to jail on Monday evening after making the phone calls to his wife.
The victim approached the SP (CID) alleging that police didn’t accept her detailed three-page FIR and pressurised her to write a one-page FIR. She also alleged that police didn’t even invoke relevant sections of SC/ST Act in the FIR despite being requested to do so.
“I fled from his residence a fortnight back to evade domestic torture and continuous dowry demands. I was not allowed to take my son that time,” she told the SP.
She said her in-laws and Shahpur police pressurised her to write that she had left her husband’s residence ‘willingly’ before getting the child’s custody on Monday. “I signed the petition as I was desperate to get my son,” she added.
The SP rang up Patna ASP (law and order) Swarn Prabhat in order to ensure effective assistance to the victim. The victim was asked to meet Prabhat and submit a petition urging to invoke relevant sections of laws, including SC/ST Act, against the accused.
When contacted, ADG (weaker section) Anil Kumar Yadav told TOI over phone on Tuesday that they will take necessary action against him. He said the accused might have gained access to a cellphone by evading police attention to make calls to the victim.
The victim’s father told TOI that Vishal had threatened his daughter and his family of dire consequences multiple times. “I had fulfilled his financial demands many times but he continued to torture my daughter. He had created a ruckus near our residence at midnight in the past, too, but I ignored to save my daughter’s married life,” he said.
He said Vishal left the merchant navy job after marriage and was unemployed. He said his daughter had to flee when Vishal abused her and started burning her clothes when she sought permission to visit her parents with her son for a few days.