In-laws arrested for thrashing woman over dowry demand

A woman in Odisha's Jajpur district was allegedly thrashed by her father-in-law and mother-in-law over dowry demand, police said on Friday.

The father-in-law, mother-in-law and the husband of the woman were arrested after a video of in-laws beating their daughter-in-law and dragging her by the hair over dowry demand went viral on social media on Wednesday night, the police said.

In the video, a man identified as Nabin Behera was seen dragging his daughter-in-law by her hair while his wife Charulata Behera was beating her with a stick at Dhaneswar village under the jurisdiction of Korei police station on Wednesday.

Although no formal complaint was filed but Korei police station took suo moto cognizance of the matter after the video went viral on social media.

"We have suo moto registered a case after the video of the incident did the rounds on social media platforms on Wednesday night and arrested father-in-law, mother-in-law and the husband of the victim under various sections of IPC," said Ranjit Mohanty, Inspector-in-charge of Korei police station.

The woman Meena Behera (26), a resident of Jokadia- Bhandaripada in Jajpur district was married to Gananath Behera about 5 years ago, the police said.

She was allegedly tortured by her in-laws several times in the past over dowry demand. The woman had once consumed poison following the torture by the in-laws over the issue and was hospitalised in a local hospital, the police added.