Prakash Kawar, 28 year old, resident of Raipur: Prakash's parents were financially poor, but still managed to give a decent amount of dowry for their daughter Prakash's wedding. However, her in laws were not very pleased with the amount of dowry provided. They used make Prakash slog like an animal day and night, and still used to beat her up and taunt her that if her parents did not have enough money to give dowry, then why they married her off to this affluent jamindaar family. Prakash delivered a son. She thought things will get better with time. But her greedy in laws never stopped demanding more dowry. Many times, they tried to send her back to her parents but she firmly refused saying that she is now married, and this is her home. Hence, she will stay and die in her in law's house itself.
One day, her husband and her mother in law poured 5 liter kerosene on her while she was cooking and she got 80% burnt. They waited all night for Prakash to die and did not even take to the hospital. The neighbours heard her screams in the morning and they took her to the local hospital where she was referred to Bhilwara hospital. As soon as read the news about Prakash in the newspaper, i rushed to her and tried to gather maximum information about this incident. While talking to her I realised that she was giving wrong testimony in order to protect her husband and her mother in law. The reason why she was doing that was because her husband had threatened to kill her 7 year old son if she told the truth to anyone. I could clearly understand while talking to her that she was being pressurized to lie and protect her in laws. She started sobbing fearing that they will kill her child. She spoke the truth only after assuring her. With the support from our organization, the authorities recorded her testimony under section 164. Prakash was treated with the financial support from few of our donors. Prakash managed to stay alive for 3 days and we could complete all the required legal formalities. On hearing about her death, her mother wondered how they will perform her cremation in their village. I was so touched when I heard that they did not have enough money to even rent a jeep to carry Prakash's dead body to their own village! I wondered how Prakash's in laws could even demand a dowry from a family which was living in such a poor financial condition. Even today, I keep seeing Prakash's face. God knows how many of such Prakash are killed by such cruel people for dowry. Prakash's husband was eventually punished. But the efforts that Prakash's mom took for travelling between Raipur and Bhilwara during this legal battle inspite of their extreme poverty is indeed noteworthy.
No comments:
Post a Comment