NEW DELHI, June 2: In a shocking incident of domestic violence, a woman in Dehradun had allegedly been locked in a room and toilet for 10 months and repeatedly tortured by her in-laws.
She was fed only raw rice and was assaulted with bottles and sticks in her private parts, her father said in a police complaint. A case has been registered at Selakui Police Station based on his complaint, naming the woman’s husband, Rahul Khanduri, and his parents as accused.
The couple got married two years ago and had twins in February 2025. The woman lived with her in-laws while her husband was working in Delhi. Her father has alleged that since last July, she had been kept confined to a single room and toilet and that her in-laws regularly subjected her to physical abuse and torture.
The father claimed that her husband physically assaulted her and neglected her well-being whenever he returned home on leave. She was given raw rice, onions, and chilies to eat, he said, adding that the constant abuse affected his daughter’s mental health.
Khanduri, his father, and mother also allegedly thrashed her. The woman’s father said in his complaint that she was beaten with drainpipes, rods, chairs, and floor wipers. They inflicted injuries to her private parts using bottles and sticks, he added. They went so far as to violently pull out hair from her head, leaving her scalp bare, the complaint said. Her father alleged they did not just abuse them verbally but also threatened to kill his daughter.
Over these 10 months, he alleged, his daughter was not allowed to visit her family or speak to them over the phone. Her in-laws also didn’t allow them to meet with their grandchildren. Whenever they contacted her, her father said her in-laws gave a standard response: that she was either sleeping or taking a bath.
“In reality, our daughter was kept locked inside a room or a restroom. She was subjected to physical abuse day and night for 10 months. She was not accorded even the basic dignity due to a human being,” he said. He alleged that they were also not allowed to enter the in-laws’ house. Her in-laws demanded that we wait another 15 days before we visit and accused us of ruining our daughter’s home, he said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
