The Hindu : Sushma meets dowry victim

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 15, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Sushma meets dowry victim

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JAN. 14. The Union Health Minister, Sushma Swaraj, visited the All-India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) here to meet the dowry victim, Jyoti Chandra, and her little daughter on Tuesday. She asked the hospital authorities to provide free treatment to them and to discharge the mother and daughter only after they were completely healed.

Accompanied by senior officials of the hospital, Ms. Swaraj went to see Jyoti around 9-30 p.m. She spent around half-an-hour with her and her daughter, Shreya, and patiently listened to their horrific tale. She said those who committed such a barbaric act should be given the most stringent punishment as per law.

Meanwhile, Jyoti said she would soon move a Bulandshahr court with a divorce application as she did not want to continue the relationship with a man who had not even spared his own daughter. Jyoti's husband, Puneet Chandra, and her in-laws had allegedly pierced the broken portion of a wiper into Shreya's vulnerable parts and tried to kill her by hitting her head against the floor several times. She is yet to come out of the physical and mental trauma.

Praising the hospital for having provided all kinds of support, an emotional Jyoti said had her daughter not been admitted to AIIMS, she could have died. "The doctors, sisters and even senior hospital officials took care of us and kept on checking about my daughter's health at regular intervals,'' she said, adding that those who tortured her daughter should be given capital punishment. Jyoti aborted her two-months foetus on Tuesday.

It is learnt while the incident has been attracting international media attention, several reputed companies have contacted the hospital with job offers for Jyoti. Some people have also offered financial aid for her daughter's treatment. Meanwhile, the Bulandshahr police have not been able to arrest the accused, Pramod Chandra, his wife and two sons. Plainclothes police personnel have been deployed at all nearby court premises to arrest them. Puneet, who had got himself arrested soon after the incident on January 2, is in judicial custody. Earlier on Monday, the All India Womens Conference had passed a resolution condemning the incident and demanding revocation of the medical license of Pramod Chandra, the father-in-law of Jyoti, who had allegedly bitten off one of her fingers.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi