MADURAI: The associate professor of IIT Delhi whose wife had filed a case against him and his family alleging dowry harassment and sex-selective abortion has denied all the allegations.
Based on a complaint filed by A Bharathi, the Tirupparankundram All Women police had registered a case against R Ayothiraman and his family on Monday.
In the complaint, Bharathi alleged that the couple who got married in 2006 has two girl children and when the third child was found to be a girl in prenatal diagnosis, Ayothiraman and his family forced her into aborting the pregnancy. She also alleged that Ayothiraman’s family members demanded gold jewellery weighing 100 sovereigns in addition to the dowry already provided during the marriage.
Talking to Express, Ayothiraman claimed that the couple shared a strained relationship ever since the marriage and since he has applied for a divorce now, his wife and family have filed false complaints to the police to cause disrepute and coerce him into withdrawing the divorce petition.
He said that he was forced to apply for divorce as he ran out of all other options to normalise the relationship. He added that since May 2014, the couple was living separately and the children were residing presently with their mother.
He alleged that it was Bharathi who wanted the abortion and forced him into signing the application at a private hospital in Madurai, adding that he has evidence to prove the same. Ayothiraman alleged that she never allowed his widowed mother to stay with them. Claiming that he has an annual income of `25 lakh and hails from a well-off family, Ayothiraman said that he never had the need to demand dowry.