Newly-Married Odisha Woman Forced To Stay & Eat Alone, Tortured By In-Laws Over Suspected Coronavirus

The novel coronavirus, apart from claiming lives across the globe, has also led to widespread frenzy of rumours about people getting infected by it. Despite rigorous measures to dispel misinformation and make people aware of the virus, there are reports of people buying hoax info.

In one such case, a newly-wed woman from Umerkote area today alleged that her in-laws tortured and ostracised her on suspicion of being infected by the deadly virus.

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According to a report by OdishaTV, "Puja Sarkar of Murtuma village had married Jayant Kumar Okil of Santoshi Nagar area on March 2. During the marriage, Puja¡¯s family had reportedly given Rs 2.5 lakh cash, jewellery and valuables worth Rs 5 lakh as dowry. However, her in-laws continued to demand an additional amount of Rs 5 lakh."

Within the first few days of marriage, Puja's in-laws allegedly began to torture her for dowry and threatened to kill her.

However, the harassment escalated when Puja developed cold and fever. The family suspected her of contracting coronavirus and beat her up. They even forced her to stay and eat separately.

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She endured the torture for almost 12 days before finally leaving the in-laws' house and going back to her parents. She later lodged a police complaint.

The police took swift action and arrested her husband and father-in-law.

Recounting the horror of the torture meted out to her, Puja as quoted by Odisha TV said, ¡°I managed to save my life while fleeing my in-laws house by saying that I was going to fetch all the dowry money and land papers. I just want justice.¡±