Dalit mother of two kicked out of house by husband, in-laws; complaint filed under SC/ST Atrocities Act

K Bharathi with her two daughters outside her in-law’s house. (Source: Sreenivas Janyala)

A 25-year-old Dalit mother of two has been left fending for herself after her husband and in-laws kicked her out of the house in Husnabad in Telangana. The woman, K Bharathi, with her two daughters sat in front of her husband’s house for two days without food until police rescued and admitted her to a hospital. On September 11, Bharathi was asked to leave by her husband M Ranjit. He told her that all his relatives were refusing to visit them because she is a Dalit.

Ranjit and Bharthi met online and fell in love and got married four years ago. While Ranjit belongs to BC community and hails from Mancherial district, Bharthi is from Mala (SC) community. However, at that time Ranjit’s parents agreed for the marriage although his relatives refused to attend the wedding. Trouble for Bharathi started a year after the marriage when she gave birth to a daughter. In her statement to Husnabad Police in Siddipet district, Bharathi said that her husband and in-laws started harassing her for giving birth to a daughter and demanded dowry. Her parents gave Rs 5 lakhs and also helped Ranjit start a bakery at Husnabad. Last year, Bharathi gave birth to their second daughter. According to Inspector B Srinivas, under the pretext that relatives had stopped visiting them as Bharathi is a Dalit, Ranjit and his parents asked her to leave the house several times. According to police, in the first week of this month her in-laws told her that their relatives were boycotting them due to her presence in the house.

“She complained that she was abused and beaten up and thrown out of the house with her two daughters. She was told to bring additional dowry of Rs 20 lakhs if she wants to return. She went back to her parents’ house who tried to talk to her in-laws. Ranjit, however, called her a day later and told her that he was getting married to another woman following which she rushed back to her in-laws house but they locked the house and went away to their relatives’ place. Not knowing what to do, she sat there for two days until someone called police and we rescued her. We have registered a complaint under SC/ST Atrocities Act. We have also called the couple for a round of counselling on Sunday to see if they can sort out the issue,” the Inspector said.

When Bharathi was sitting outside the house with her two little daughters some women informed the deputy sarpanch of village Kommula Bhaskar who informed police and helped lodge the complaint.