VELLORE: Vellore police denied allegations that there was a delay in filing of the FIR in the case of 21-year-old A Nargis, who had petitioned Collector VR Subbulaxmi on Monday accusing her husband, B Khaja Rafiq (30), of pushing her off the second-floor terrace of her house in Saduperi, inflicting fractures to her spinal cord and legs. The woman had also accused Rafiq of domestic violence and dowry harassment and that the police were delaying filing the FIR as her father-in-law works as an SI at a police station in Tiruvannamalai.
Reacting to Nargis's allegations, A Mylvahanan, the newly-joined SP, said police reached her house (on June 3) soon after she fell. “At that time, her husband said that she had fallen from a height and was unconscious,”he said. The woman’s family had filed a complaint on July 8, Ariyoor police said. “They had filed the complaint after a delay of one month. Immediately after the complaint, we visited her at her house at Melnelli, Ranipet, and held an enquiry. As there was a delay, we had to investigate thoroughly and discuss with higher officials. When we went to the house where the incident took place, it was locked and the husband was nowhere to be found. Before we could finish investigation, she petitioned the collector, “ police said.
Police had registered an FIR, arrested Rafiq and lodged him in Vellore Central prison only after the victim petitioned the collector. Attempt to murder was one of the main charges, along with relevant sections of dowry harassment and domestic violence.
The woman had alleged that her husband had pushed her down after an argument regarding dowry. “After I fell down, he was looking at me from the terrace. It was the neighbours who took me to the hospital.” Nargis’s advocate S Bhaskar said that Rafik and his father had also later come to the hospital. Bhaskar said the duo allegedly threatened Nargis, “They said they knew doctors at the hospital and would ask them to kill her by giving a poison injection if she reveals what had happened to her, ” Bhaskar said. Further investigation is ongoing, including a probe to find the role of the man’s parents in the case.