New Delhi: A chilling video has emerged on social media showing a young woman in Uttar Pradesh (UP) brutally assaulting her elderly mother-in-law, who in turn is seen cowering in her bed as she is choked with a rope, slapped, kicked and beaten with a stone.
The footage, just over a minute long, captured on January 5 in Bijnore shows Sangeeta Jain mercilessly beating 70-year-old Rajrani Jain, dragging her by hair and punching her repeatedly.
She pauses only to get a heavy stone and then starts raining fresh blows, jumping on the bed. Throughout the assault, her mother-in-law clings to her quilt for dear life.
After that, Sangeeta went ahead to the police and lodged a report of domestic violence against her husband Sandeep Jain and mother-in-law, following which the police reportedly booked her husband on charges of dowry and marital rape.
The video was uploaded by social activist Kundan Srivastava on his Facebook page and was supported by an appeal to UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to take action against Sangeeta.
In his long post, Srivastava said the video was taken using a CCTV camera which was installed in the room on his advice. He described Sangeeta as a “cruel woman” who filed false dowry harassment and marital rape cases against her husband. Srivastava has accused the police of doing little because the crime was committed by a woman.
Sangeeta, who was arrested Tuesday for attempted murder after the video of her vicious assault went viral on social media, claims the video is fake.
“They made this fake video to ruin me. They beat me so many times and there is no video of that. They just want to frame me,” she told the media minutes before her arrest.
Recalling the incident, the victim said that her daughter-in-law had been attacking her mercilessly for over two years.
“That day she came out of the kitchen and started slapping me for no reason. She also started to beat me with bricks. I do not know why she did it,” said a badly wounded Rajrani, her head wrapped in bandages.
Sandeep has been married for seven years to Sangeeta, and faces dowry harassment and marital rape cases. A divorce is also in process.
“This has been happening for quite some time now. She used to assault and abuse my parents very often. I complained about her but no one listened to me. Then after waiting for two years, I installed a CCTV camera expecting that she will mend her ways, but she did not. That day she crossed all the limits. I installed the camera to unmask her since the law is on the woman’s side when these types of cases are concerned,” Sandeep said.
Senior police officer Debjit Chowdhry told Gulf News that he was personally looking into the matter.
Legal action
“We will take legal action against Sangeeta Jain. Already an FIR has been registered and our police officers have visited the site. We are looking at the CCTV footage and further legal action will be taken.
"It is a family matter and now police is in the picture. There is a lot of infighting in the family — husband and wife, mother-in-law and wife. We are probing the whole thing,” Chowdhry said.
Expressing shock over the horrific video, women’s rights activists have demanded that a law be introduced to protect the old and sick in this country. Advocate and women rights activist Abha Singh said it was necessary to amendment Section 498 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as it protects only the rights of the daughter-in-law.
“It is a very shocking incident. I think the time has come where the Parliament needs to sit down and make a law which would protect the old and sick in this country,” Singh said.
“I feel ashamed that a woman is brutalising another woman. I think women should understand that law has been made to give them that extra support and to help them but that does not mean that it should be misused. I think we should look at the matter from a [broader perspective]. We should [look at] where society is headed,” former National Commission for Women (NCW) member Shamina Shafiq told Gulf News.
