Father-in-law charged for harassing woman

A 20-year-old woman has approached police alleging her father-in-law was forcing her to have an illicit relation with him within a month of her marriage last year, police said on Saturday.

Sonia (name changed), lives with her handicapped husband at Rajapuri in south-west Delhi’s Bindapur area. In her statement to police, Sonia said she married Anil Agarwal in June 2011, and was initially staying with her in-laws at Uttam Nagar K-Block

“She claims that Anil and most of his family members, including father-in-law Rajender and mother-in-law Sukhdevi, began harassing her for dowry soon after marriage. And within a month, Rajender also tried to forcefully have physical relations with her,” a police official said.

Sonia went on to inform her husband about his father’s behaviour, but Anil declined to support her.  “Anil was allegedly eying ancestral property and feared he will lose it if he fought with Rajender. He, however, did agree to leave the house to end his wife’s trauma,” the official added.

A case of under section 498-A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code has been lodged at Dabri police station.