Engaged at three, chartered accountant ‘forced’ by panchayat to consume poison

JODHPUR: The diktat of a panchayat led an educated girl to consume poison. The girl had apparently refused to acknowledge her engagement, which happened when she was barely three-years-old, and the future prospect of marriage. Battling pressure, she kept on with her studies and became a chartered accountant thinking that once she is able to stand on her feet she would be able to get free from all the pressure.
But then her would-be in-laws invoked the panchayat which slapped a fine of Rs 16 lakh on her family for not honouring the engagement.The situation turned intolerable for her on Sunday when ahead of a panchayat meeting, she reached the police station and consumed some poisonous substance in front of police and family members.
“She was rushed to the hospital and now she is out of danger. Investigation of the case has been handed over to a DSP rank officer of the SC/ST Cell Narayan Singh,” said the DCP (east) Aman Deep Singh.
Negligence of the police has also been reported in the matter as the victim had to approach the police commissioner thrice to get the FIR against her in-laws registered. The FIR was finally registered on October 25 but no action was taken by the police. Police, however, said that after the registration of the FIR, she had been called for recording her statements, but she did not turn up. The victim has given complaint against five persons, which also include a Sarpanch and father of the present Jila Pramukh of Jodhpur.
According to the report, Divya Choudhary (22) was engaged with one Jeevraj when she was three-years-old. For the past few years, family of the boy started building pressure on her family for solemnization of marriage. But Divya and her family kept delaying the matter. Finally when Divya refused to get married her family was fined with a cash penalty of Rs. 16 lakh, which they paid to the panchayat.
The police complaint against the panchayat and the boy’s family further irked the panchayat, which demanded Rs 20 lakh more, a public apology and withdrawal of the police case in order to avoid boycott from the community. “We were so scared that I stopped going out of the house. My aspirations of making a career were dashed further by intervention of the panchayat and seeing no hope, I consumed poison,” said Divya, who has been recovering.
When contacted, the IO, Narayan Singh, said that he has not received the file of the case and would be able to comment only after studying the file. The concerned SHO and the ACP refused to comment on the issue.