Kidney not enough, woman immolates self over dowry demand,dies

Poonam Devi (28), who had donated one of her kidneys as part of a "dowry deal" to save the life of her ailing husband, succumbed to her injuries after she allegedly self-immolated herself in Hazaribagh district, the police said today.
On April 16, Poonam, of Kavilashi village in Ichak police station area, was rushed to a hospital after she was allegedly forced to self-immolate for not being able to cough up Rs 25,000 as dowry demanded by her in-laws, the police said quoting the FIR.
She died yesterday, sources said.
The FIR lodged with the Ichak police station by her father, Barhan Bharati, a resident of Pandaro in Jainagar police station area of Koderma district, accused Poonam's mother-in-law of torturing her for more dowry.

Poonam, a mother of two children, was frequently tortured though her father gave Rs 1.31 lakh in cash among other things as dowry during her marriage eight years ago, the FIR said.
Meanwhile, Poonam's husband Sudama Giri fell ill after both his kidneys stopped functioning and doctors recommended kidney transplantation.

At this stage, the in-laws of Poonam approached her to donate one of her kidneys to save Giri.
Poonam agreed to donate her kidney to Giri only when her in-laws gave an undertaking six months ago that they would not torture her for dowry and treat her well, the FIR said.

But the torture went on even after she donated one of her kidneys, and on failing to fulfill the demand, Poonam was forced to self-immolate, it was alleged in the FIR.
Superintendent of Police Manoj Kaushik told reporters that investigation was on and the guilty would be punished.