Last week, a horrifying video of daughter-in-law thrashing her 82-year-old mother-in-law went viral. After huge uproar on social media — largely with the absence of any feminist handles tweeting about the same — the daughter-in-law was arrested by Sonipat police in Haryana. Several handles had tagged Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar as well as NCW India chief Rekha Sharma, to intervene and nab the accused woman.
Background
The incident took place in Sector-23 of Sonipat, wherein, Ramehar, the son of the victim mother-in-law, told police that he works in the Milk Supply business, and due to that, he had to leave for work early every morning. His wife Saroj works in the health department and their children and his mother used to stay with the accused woman and her mother, Mamta (Ramehar’s mother-in-law), the whole day.
Station House Officer City Inspector Sandeep said the elderly woman’s son had said in his complaint that his wife and mother-in-law carried out physical abuse on his old mother for sometime now.
The children in the home had secretly recorded the video of their mother and maternal grandmother beating the old woman and sent it to their maternal uncle.
The brother-in-law of Ramehar sent him the video of his wife beating and assaulting his mother, and also forcing her to do the household chores. When husband questioned his wife, Saroj and her mother threatened him as well. Thereafter, a complaint was filed in the Sector-23 police station and a case of assault was filed against the mother-daughter duo.
Daughter-in-Law’s Statement
Sector-23, station in-charge, Katar Singh, in his statement informed media that both the women had been arrested and the investigation is still going on. The accused have been booked under sections 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
The accused daughter-in-law confessed to her crime, stating that she was only asking her mother-in-law to throw the makoda (big ant) out of her room. During further questioning, Saroj also said that she made a mistake as she was in a state of anger, and had never assaulted the victim before. She also stated that she never forced the old woman to work. According to Saroj, it was her mother-in-law herself who used to do chores after the children would leave the house. On the day of the incident, when she returned home at noon from work, she just asked her mother-in-law to throw the big ants out.
Social Media Campaign
We are not sure if the elderly woman would have been rescued, if not for common citizens who stood up for her justice. An online campaign was launched across the country to urge local police to nab the accused woman.
Women’s Commission Letter To SP
The State President of women’s Commission, Preeti Bhardwaj, and a member of the Commission, Sonia Agrawal, wrote a letter to SP demanding strictest action against the daughter-in-law. Another letter was also sent to the health department asking them to take stern action against Saroj.
Good Samaritains
Local couple Satish Balyan and his wife from Mahalana have approached the Sonepat Samaj Panchayat with regards to future welfare of the old woman. They are willing to adopt the elderly lady to look after her henceforth.
This couple had even donated their mother’s body according to her last wish to Khanpur medical college.
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