Ghaziabad teacher ‘burnt for dowry’ succumbs to injuries

A 36-year-old woman, who was allegedly burnt by her husband and in-laws on April 13 for dowry, succumbed to her injuries at a Delhi hospital eight days after the alleged incident.

The woman, Sangita Verma, a government school teacher at Sikanderabad, was married to Sanjeev Nagar in 2002. The couple, who lived at Swaroop Nagar in Lajpat Nagar, have two minor children — a daughter aged 14 and a son aged 12.

The Sahibabad police had booked her husband and his parents after her parents’ complaint.

On April 13, Sangita was preparing dinner when she got burnt. Her neighbours came to her rescue and she was first admitted to a local hospital in Sahbiabad. Soon, her parents and brother Pradeep Kumar Verma took her to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. They alleged that she was set on fire by her husband and in-laws over dowry.

Salmantaj Patil, superintendent of police (city), confirmed her death on Friday. He had earlier said the woman had given two statements since the incident.

“In her initial statements to the doctor at a Ghaziabad hospital, the victim had said that she suffered burns in an accidental fire and did not implicate anyone. However, the next day, she claimed there was an altercation with her husband. Based on her second statement, we arrested her husband,” said Patil.

The FIR stated that Sangita told her mother in the hospital that her husband had been demanding Rs25 lakh. In the complaint, her brother Pradeep said he had received a hefty compensation for some of his land acquired by the state in June 2016 and, upon hearing this, her in-laws started demanding dowry. Pradeep said he had also given Sangita’s husband Rs1 lakh last December.

Following the complaint on April 14, the police lodged an FIR for domestic violence, attempt to murder and under the provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act at Sahibabad police station and began a probe in the incident.