Another setback for Sangli widow

sangli: the auction of attached assets of a prominent family from the kalambi village of khanapur taluka to compensate their hiv positive and widowed daughter-in-law had to be suspended for poor bidding. the auction, held on april 12, as per orders from joint civil judge (senior division) t.m. jahagirdar, fetched only rs 12,000 for some items following which it was postponed to may 2.the court felt that the bidders quoted much less prices for the goods and, therefore took the decision to postpone the auction. the widow’s lawyer, dattajirao mane, said seven items were sold on friday for rs 12,000. the auction of the remaining 22 assets, including a tractor, cupboards and tables, was withheld as the bidders treated these assets almost as scrap materials and quoted very low prices, he said. the widow had alleged that she was tricked in to marriage by her in-laws who were well aware of the fact that her husband had aids. she had also alleged that her in-laws did this from a “position of advantage�. her husband died soon after the marriage, and only then did it come to light that she too had been infected with the deadly disease. a few months ago, the court had decided the case in favour of the widow and had ordered her in-laws to pay a lumpsum compensation of rs 5 lakh, gold ornaments valued at rs 58,000, one fifth share in the familyowned land besides rs 3,000 as alimony per month. the in-laws, however, had refused to pay the compensation as ordered by the court. subsequently, the court ordered confiscation and auction of the assets of the family. the seized assets include the land and house.