A 17-year-10-month-old married girl has died after being found critically ill at her in-laws’ home in East Midnapore, West Bengal, with her father alleging domestic abuse and repeated demands for money. Police have registered a case and are investigating the roles of both the girl’s marital and parental families.
The girl was brought to a rural hospital on Friday afternoon after being found unconscious at her in-laws’ house. She was subsequently declared dead. Her body has been sent to Tamluk Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem examination. No arrests had been made by Saturday, according to the report.
The district’s Superintendent of Police, Anshuman Saha, said legal action would be taken based on the complaint. He added that investigators would examine the role of the girl’s in-laws as well as members of her parental family before taking action.
The girl’s father told police that his son-in-law regularly consumed alcohol, demanded money from him and subjected his daughter to harassment. He said his daughter had called from her in-laws’ home on Friday morning to report a dispute and had called again around noon asking that her brother be sent to bring her back.
Her brother said he found her unconscious when he reached the house. According to his account, the in-laws said she had consumed pesticide. He and his brother-in-law took her to hospital, after which the in-laws allegedly left the house. He also alleged that the family had concealed the girl’s four-year-old daughter.
The deceased had reportedly married when she was in Class VI, around five years ago, after eloping with a minor boy from the same district. The couple had a daughter the following year, meaning the girl became a mother at about 13. Her father said she had earlier eloped twice with the boy and that the family had brought her back after trying to persuade her. He claimed that she later married at a temple for the third time and threatened suicide if the marriage was not accepted.
The girl’s husband had previously worked outside the state in the flower trade but had returned to the village a few months ago, according to the report. The police investigation will establish the circumstances of the death and examine the allegations of abuse and the responsibilities of the people involved.
The case comes amid wider police action over alleged child marriages and underage pregnancies in West Bengal. The report said Chief Minister Shuvendu Adhikari had directed that the husband, in-laws, parental family members and, where necessary, priests or qazis involved in the marriage of a pregnant minor should face arrest. Police action has reportedly begun in several parts of the state.
In a separate case, police in Mayureswar, Birbhum, arrested the husband of a minor girl from Murshidabad after she was admitted to a government hospital in Kolkata with labour pain three days earlier. The hospital had informed the police. The report also said six minor girls were admitted with labour pain at Ghatal Super Speciality Hospital in West Midnapore between Friday and Saturday, with the hospital informing the local police station. Hospital officials said Aadhaar cards were now being required during admission, making it easier to identify underage pregnancies.
