Jamui: A shocking case of dowry-related murder has emerged from Dhardha village under the Malaypur police station area in Bihar’s Jamui district, where a woman was allegedly beaten and strangled to death by her husband and in-laws. The accused reportedly tried to stage the murder as a suicide before fleeing the scene.
The victim, identified as Aradhana Kumari, was married to Baban Kumar Rawat, who serves in the Bihar Police. According to the complaint filed by her family, Aradhana’s husband, parents-in-law, sister-in-law, and nephew brutally assaulted her and then strangled her to death late on Saturday night.
Police said the accused placed her body on the bed to make it appear like a suicide before escaping. The body has been sent for post-mortem examination, and an investigation is underway.
The case took a harrowing turn when Aradhana’s four-year-old daughter, Srishti, described what she saw. In a tearful statement to the police, she said, “My father, grandfather, grandmother, aunt, and brother first beat my mother with sticks. Then they strangled her. When she fell, they laid her on the bed and ran away.”
Aradhana’s family said she had been harassed for years over dowry demands. Her mother told police that the family had given everything they could during her 2014 marriage but that the demands escalated after her husband secured a government job. “They started asking for Rs 15 lakh in cash and a Scorpio car,” she said. “When we couldn’t fulfill it, they began torturing her.”
Her brother, Rajiv Rawat, said that his sister had called him earlier that morning to report being assaulted. “By the time we reached with the police, she was already dead, and the house was empty,” he said.
Barhat Police Station Officer Kumar Sanjeev confirmed that one person — the victim’s father-in-law — has been arrested. “The body has been sent for autopsy, and raids are underway to arrest the remaining accused,” he said.
Dowry-related violence remains a widespread issue in Bihar despite the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, which criminalizes such demands. According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the state continues to report one of the highest numbers of dowry deaths in India each year.
