Kounsar Bashir/ Meer Irfan
A married woman, mother of an eight-month-old daughter died on Monday morning under mysterious circumstances in the Drabgam area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Speaking to The Kashmiriyat, a relative of the deceased woman said that Ruqaiya Jan, aged 24, a daughter of Mohammed Yousuf Sheikh resident of Newa Pulwama was married to a man in Drabgam in Pulwama for over a year.
Alleging that the woman repeatedly complained of torture by in-laws, the family member said, “She was repeatedly informing her uncles of the torture by in-laws but they did not pay any attention to her because she had married on her own.”
On Monday morning the woman was rushed to the District Hospital in Pulwama under mysterious circumstances.
“Around 3 PM, we reached the hospital after we got a call from the hospital that she (Ruqaiya) had been taken to the hospital. When we reached the hospital Ruqaiya was already dead,” her brother told The Kashmiriyat over the phone.
She used to call her relatives and tell them that she was harassed by her in-laws over dowry, he alleged.
Initial reports from the hospital state that she had consumed poison but after the dead body of the woman reached her locality in Drabgam Pulwama, the locals demanded an autopsy.
A senior Police official from Pulwama said that Police has taken two persons including the husband of the woman into detention, a fact confirmed by the brother of the deceased Ruqaiya Jan.
He said that Police is thoroughly investigating the case and an autopsy has been conducted on the deceased women to ascertain the causes of the death. “We will know the exact cause of the death. If anyone is found guilty, he/she will not be spared,” the official said.