VELLORE: The Ariyoor police arrested B Khaja Rafik (30), husband of A Nargis, on charges of attempt to murder and lodged him in Vellore Central Prison on Monday evening.
Rafik was arrested after the 21-year-old woman, who had undergone two surgeries, petitioned Collector V R Subbulaxmi while on a stretcher. Nargis had sustained spinal injury and fractures to both her legs after falling from the terrace of the couple’s house in Saduperi.
Nargis had petitioned the collector, stating that her husband pushed her down from the second-floor terrace following an argument on June 3. She also alleged dowry harassment and domestic violence. Ariyoor police confirmed that Rafik had pushed down Nargis from the terrace.
Nargis said she married Rafik in 2023. “My family took loans to give them 30 sovereigns of gold, Rs 1.5 lakh to buy a vehicle, Rs 3 lakh for home appliances, and spent Rs 10 lakh on the marriage. Even after all this, my in-laws kept saying I brought only 30 sovereigns and demanded more,” Nargis told TNIE.
She further alleged, “My husband beat me on my chest and stomach and smashed my palm. I had to get permission from my mother-in-law to even use the toilet. Most of the time, I wasn’t allowed to eat on time. Despite having a washing machine, I was forced to wash all clothes by hand. I was made to clean and sweep the three-storey house, where we lived earlier.”
Nargis also said that despite attempts to file complaints with Ariyoor police earlier, no action was taken, allegedly because her father-in-law works as a sub-inspector at a police station in Tiruvannamalai.