The Bisrakh police have lodged a First Information Report (FIR) under sections of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 115(2)(voluntarily causing hurt), 316(2)(criminal breach of trust), 351(3)(criminal intimidation), 352(insult) and 85 (cruelty by husband and relatives).
Ahead of her marriage on January 16 last year, Lavika Gupta, 33, a resident of Greater Noida’s Gaur City, was told that the groom had thinning hair. However, on the day of the wedding, she discovered that Sayam Jain was completely bald and used a fake hair patch. A year later, on Sunday, Gupta filed a case against her husband and in-laws, alleging cruelty and breach of trust, and under sections pertaining to dowry demands.
In her complaint to the police, Gupta stated, “After the marriage, I also found that my husband had only passed Class 12, while his biodata showed that he had a BCom degree. He also lied that his income was Rs 18 lakh. In this way, I was seriously defrauded.”
Before and during the wedding ceremony, there was continuous pressure on Gupta’s family to give a car as dowry, with Jain’s family even insisting that there would be no nuptial ceremony if the car was not given, she told the police.
“Under this pressure, we had to give a car as a gift. We also gave about Rs 20 lakh in cash in several instalments as his family kept saying that the amount was necessary for marriage expenses. But from the second day of the marriage, my husband started blackmailing me and said that he had taken private pictures from my phone and if I did not listen to him, he would make them public,” she stated.
Gupta also told the police that in the span of a year, she was brutally assaulted multiple times and was nearly pushed to the brink of taking her own life on several occasions. “On one occasion, he put a country-made pistol to my head and said that if I told anyone, he would shoot me. He grabbed my hair, dragged me from the bed onto the floor, and kicked my face, saying, ‘You deserve this. ’”
“They also said that they have many connections with high-ranking officers in the police and administration, and if I file a report anywhere, they will get the case dismissed and frame me in a false case,” the complaint added.
Curated by Dr. Elena Rodriguez
