The Dalit in-laws of the girl, who allegedly became a victim of honour killing in Rohtak, have alleged that the police did not let them take part in their daughter-in-law’s cremation that took place on Saturday evening. They alleged that from the past one year, the Rohtak police have been torturing their family and hurling casteist abuses at them as their son married an upper caste Jat woman.
“We wanted to cremate her body with all the rituals. But the police advised us that if we perform her last rites, her family would fume further and could attack us. We agreed and dropped the plan. The least we wanted was to be present at her cremation. But the police did not even let us do that by informing us late. Instead, they allowed her family that killed her to be present,” said Dinesh Kumar, victim’s brother-in-law.
Meanwhile, station house officer Sunita, who is leading the investigation, maintained that the police served the notice about the cremation to the family on time. She further said that the family had itself signed the document saying they do not want to cremate the body.
The unclaimed body of victim Mamta Kumari was kept at the mortuary of Rohtak hospital for three days before the state women commission cremated her on Saturday. Mamta’s husband Sombir, who was jailed for forging her age proof to marry her when she was a minor, was also not allowed leave to attend her cremation.
“I moved his bail plea thrice. But the judge turned it down everytime taking in view a threat to his life from his wife’s family. He cried on phone, told us that he wants to see his wife’s face for the last time. But his wish could not be granted,” said Dinesh.
Mamta’s mother-in-law Saroj Devi said the police have been torturing her family since an year. “Ever since they eloped in August last year, the police have been harassing us so much that we had to leave our village for three months. The policemen repeatedly hurled vulgar abuses at us for being from a lower caste and said that how dare our son marry a Jat woman. They even arrested my husband on false charges and kept us in custody for long hours to harass us. Our life has been a living hell since their marriage,” she said.
Devi further said that the harassment was going on even now. “The policeman recording our statements said that we were faking our misery. They said we lost nothing and that the real loss was for the girl’s family because they lost their daughter and will now have to be in jail for killing her. They can’t apprehend that we also loved our daughter-in-law and it is them (her family) who killed her. Though she was in police custody in Karnal, we used to go meet her twice every month when she was brought to Rohtak court for her case hearings,” said Saroj.
The family said they were not aware of their son’s relationship with Mamta till the time they eloped. They said when their son called them from Delhi, they warned him not to marry her because they were Dalits and could sense trouble that would follow.
Meanwhile, superintendent of police (SP) Jashandeep Singh Randhawa did not respond despite a number of calls.
First Published: Aug 12, 2018 20:52 IST
Source: HindustanTimes