19-yr-old ends life; husband, 3 others booked for dowry death

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 6

The Ramdass police have booked four members of a family on charges of dowry death after a newly married woman ended her life by consuming some poisonous substance on Monday. The deceased was identified as Harpreet Kaur (19) who was married to Baljinder Singh of Avan village in June 2020.

Besides Baljinder, the police booked his father Sukhwinder Singh, mother Amarjit Kaur and Simranjit Kaur. A case under Section 304-B of the IPC was registered against them.

Mandeep Kaur, mother of the deceased, stated to the police that Harpreet Kaur was married to Baljinder on June 5, 2020. She said that several months after the marriage, her daughter told that the accused used to harass her for bringing insufficient dowry. She said they had took up the matter with her in-laws in this regard while pleading that they had already given dowry more than their capacity. They expressed their inability to give more dowry to them.

However, she alleged, they demanded Rs 2 lakh for the construction of the house. She said that on Sunday, Harpreet Kaur, called her in the evening. She was crying and told that her in-laws were asking her to bring money. She appeared very perturbed and asked that it was better to die by consuming poison. She said she consoled her and asked that they would come on Monday and talk to her in-laws. But at around 11.30 pm, her sister-in-law called and said that Harpreet consumed some poisonous substance. They admitted her in a private hospital on the Airport road where she died.

Police authorities said that efforts were on to nab the accused while body of the deceased was handed over to the family after postmortem examination.