Dowry case registered against government official

Wife of an Assistant Agricultural Officer (AAO) working with Barachana block in Odisha's Jajpur district has accused her husband and his family members of dowry harassment and physical torture, police said today.
The 26-year-old woman is also a government employee and works as Gram Panchayat Technical Assistant (GPTA) in Bhandaripokari block in the neighbouring Bhadrak district.
Monalisa Sethy has named her husband Tusharkanta Sethy, father-in-law Madhabananda, mother-in-law Mandodari, brother-in-law Srikrushna and sister-in-law Tapaswini in her complaint, they said.
"We have registered a case following Monalisa's complaint and investigating into the matter," said Madhusmita Mohanty, Inspector In-Charge of Kuakhia Police station.

No one has been arrested so far, she said.
Monalisa, of Sathipur village married Tushakanta of Adampur village in June last year. As per demand, a car, Rs 50,000 cash, AC, 350 grams of gold ornaments and other household articles were given to the groom's family as dowry at the time of marriage, she said in the complaint.

"A few days after marriage, my husband and his family members started torturing me, both physically and mentally, demanding another Rs 5 lakh cash as dowry. When their torture became unbearable, I left the in-laws house and returned to my paternal home in January this year. I have been staying with my parents since then," Monalisa said.

My husband used to threaten me to come back with Rs 5 lakh cash as dowry, she said adding her parents had given cash and kind worth over Rs 25 lakh to her in-laws family as dowry as per their demands.
Last month, Monalisa's in-laws went to her parental house to take her back to their house, but she refused to return to her in-law house. When the attempt to bring back his wife failed, Tusharkant threatened his wife with dire consequence if she would not come to their house with Rs 5 lakh as dowry following which the latter filed a complaint with Kuakhia police in this connection on Wednesday night.

It is the second dowry incident in the district in just 24 hours. A 26-year-old woman was set ablaze allegedly by her in-laws for dowry in Chahata village on Tuesday. The victim, identified as Suchismita Nayak, died of burns.