JOIN USDoctors Sabitri was in a critical condition after being operated at a Dhanbad hospital. The man, Sannimar Munda, a labourer, is on the run.
The two were married in 2007 and have a two-month-old son. Police have lodged a first information report (FIR) against Munda on charges including attempt to murder.
Munda became angry when Sabitri, a housewife, said Wednesday that she wanted to go to her parents' home and charged her with having an extra-marital relationship, Dhanbad Deputy Superintendent of Police Rajiv Ranjan said.
Their quarrel took a vicious turn when Munda tied his wife's hands and legs and put clothes in her mouth and stitched her private parts with "steel wire", Ranjan said. After committing the ghastly act, he locked her up in a room.
But Sabitri escaped and reached her parents' home Thursday. Her parents went to the police and lodged a complaint against Munda. The woman was operated Thursday at the Patliputra Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) in Dhanbad. Her condition is serious and she has been kept under observation, doctors said.
"It is shame on our society and I have never heard or treated such a patient in my life. I have taken up the issue with Dhanbad Superintendent of Police Suman Gupta...She has assured that suitable steps will be taken to book the husband," Leena, one of the doctors who operated on Sabitri, told IANS over telephone.
Added Pratibha Roy, another doctor who treated Sabitri: "In my medical career of more than 30 years, I have not seen such a ghastly act."
Said Rajiv Kumar a lawyer in the Jharkhand High Court: "This is indeed a ghastly act... The husband could be jailed for at least 10 years for committing such a heinous crime."