‘Every festival visit came with a price’: Father speaks after Noida woman 'thrown off' terrace over dowry harassment

By- Neetika.Jha

NOIDA: Every time Deepika Nagar came home for a festival, she was expected to carry back jewellery for her mother-in-law, three sisters-in-law, and any other relatives, if there was a specific request. Last month, she bought an anklet worth Rs 30,000 from a local jeweller to meet one such demand from her mother-in-law.

The 24-year-old died at her in-laws’ house in Greater Noida’s Jalpura village in the early hours of May 17, allegedly from a fall from the third-floor terrace. Her father told police she had been harassed and taunted relentlessly over dowry. Her husband, Ritik Nagar, a real estate broker studying LLB, was arrested for murder on Sunday after the family accused him of pushing her from the roof. Father-in-law Manoj Nagar was also arrested. Five other accused remain absconding.

An FIR has been lodged at Ecotech 3 police station under Sections 85 and 80(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.

Deepika had completed BEd from a college near her home in Khudi Khera in 2022. It was Manoj who had approached the family and proposed the match. “They thought my daughter was pretty and educated. They also had a primary school and thought she would help run it. There was no demand for dowry. They said all they wanted was my daughter. I didn’t understand that they actually meant her life,” said her father Sanjay Nagar.

The two families met in March 2024 and the wedding was fixed for Dec 11 that year. A month before the ceremony, the groom’s family sent a list of gold items they expected for each family member, Deepika’s cousin Vivek told TOI. “Relatives also said that they expected a Fortuner, though no direct demand was made, so we let it go,” he said. Sanjay borrowed money from relatives to meet every demand on the list.

Two months after the wedding, according to Deepika’s family, the harassment began. Deepika was subjected to continuous mental and physical pressure over additional dowry. “It became more like a ritual. Every time she visited for a festival, gold items were expected,” said her aunt Baiju Nagar.

Just four days before her death, on May 13, Deepika and Ritik had attended the housewarming of Baiju’s home in Khudi Khera. “I did not get much time to talk to her that day. But she was not the happy and chirpy woman I used to see before all this started. She just looked pale and dull,” Baiju said. When she asked Deepika what was wrong, she was told she was taunted almost every day. “I told her these are the initial days of marriage and things will eventually get better,” Baiju said.

Her father said Deepika was closest to him and to her sister, Sarika. “She was a quiet child. Even while growing up, she had few demands. She wanted to study, and I never stopped her,” he said. Sunday was the ninth time Sanjay had gone to his daughter’s matrimonial home — the previous eight visits had been to mediate between her and her in-laws. This time, he found her body. “I had asked her to be patient. I was so wrong,” he said.

Gulzaar Choudhary (30), a neighbour who lives in the same lane in Jalpura, said he was the first to hear the thud, apparently when Deepika fell to the ground. “It was 12.27 am. I was on my phone. It felt like an electrical transformer had blasted. When I rushed out, she was lying on the floor unconscious, and Ritik came running down the stairs. We rushed her to a hospital,” he said, adding that Rithik drove the car. Choudhary said he had never seen Deepika’s face in the year and a half she had lived there. “We never heard any noise from their home. No one ever said that Ritik was torturing her,” he said.

The autopsy found multiple grievous external and internal injuries, including a ruptured spleen, brain hematoma, and internal bleeding across several sites. Police said they are consulting medical experts to determine whether the injuries preceded the fall or resulted from it. Four teams have been formed to trace the five absconding accused.