A woman in the Capital has lodged a dowry harassment case against her husband whom she met on a matrimonial site, underscoring an unpalatable truth about the social evil that hides behind happy images of the big fat Indian weddings.

Frustrated for over two years now, Sandhya Gupta, who got married to Vaibhav Bansal in 2014 and has allegedly been "tortured and beaten up for dowry", approached Delhi Police.

The tradition has been illegal in India since 1961, but it continues to thrive and campaigners say it leaves women vulnerable to domestic violence and even death.

Sandhya also found that her husband was in "illicit relationships" with several women and discovered that he underwent a medical test for a "serious communicable disease" on the pretext of which he told her that the "doctors advised him not to have physical intimacy for at least 10 months."

The victim had written in her police complaint that Vaibhav worked in the United States and had returned just before getting married to her in 2014. He is now employed with a private sector firm in Gurugram. Vaibhav refused to speak to MAIL TODAY.

Experts say the custom of dowry began in India largely because, under Hindu law, parental property was not allowed to be shared by female children. In compensation, parents would give their daughter a gift at the time of her marriage. Later, grooms and their families made handing over the gift as dowry an institutionalised demand.

FORCED TO MOVE BACK TO PARENTS' HOME, SANDHYA SAYS

Sandhya reported in her complaint that she was forced to move back to her parental home in south Delhi's Sarojini Nagar as it was getting "unbearable at the in-laws' house". Things took a turn for the worse when she received an envelope with photographs of her husband getting remarried.

She then filed a case under sections of dowry, breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.

MAIL TODAY has a copy of the FIR that narrates how Sandhya met Vaibhav through a matrimonial website and they decided to meet at the Great India Place mall in Noida.

Vaibhav's parents said their son used to work in the US and had recently returned. When both the families approved, they met at Vaibhav's residence in Noida.

"They demanded dowry, stating that their son is getting very good proposals from rich families but he has chosen me," Sandhya told police.

"So, let's settle a deal. Do the wedding in a five-star hotel in Delhi. Give us cash and jewellery along with an SUV," she quoted her in-laws saying during their second meet.

A compromise was reached. On February 3, 2014, the couple got hitched at Star City Mall in east Delhi's Mayur Vihar. Sandhya's family spent `25 lakh and gave jewellery as well as a Maruti Swift Dzire car in dowry.

'TORTURE BEGAN FROM DAY ONE'

The torture began from day one, says Sandhya. Her husband, sister-in-law and mother-in-law allegedly started demanding more dowry.

"One day when he was lying next to me, I caught him chatting on the phone with a woman. When I questioned, he started beating me up," Sandhya wrote in her complaint.

Later when she learnt about more such relationships, she informed her mother-inlaw who sided with her son. Sandhya found the doctor's report in her husband's pocket a few days later.

To verify it, she approached another doctor who told her that the disease was caused due to unsafe sexual intercourse with multiple partners.

The complainant says despite knowing all this, she made efforts to mend the relationship, but was again beaten up by Vaibhav and his family who demanded `25 lakh as dowry.

When she returned to her parents' home, her husband's family allegedly demanded divorce and threatened dire consequences if she didn't comply. Sandhya approached the Special Police Unit for Women and Children and lodged a case against the accused. MAIL TODAY tried to contact Sandhya, but she remained unavailable for comment.

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