Rachana Kumari (right) with her mother at the Darbhanga court on Thursday. Picture by Mohan Mahato

Darbhanga, Feb. 9: A court here today told the parents of an Indian Foreign Officer (IFS) to appear in person and answer charges of dowry harassment slapped against them and their son by a woman who has accused them of breaking off her marriage to the diplomat after she spurned their demand of Rs 1 crore.

Devchandra Mishra and Narayani Mishra, the parents of IFS officer Amit Kumar Mishra, have been directed to be present in the court of the Darbhanga chief judicial magistrate on March 14. Amit Mishra, a 2004 batch officer, is posted as under secretary, Americas, in the ministry of external affairs in New Delhi.

Mishra and his parents have been accused of dowry harassment by Rachana Kumari, 29, who has been fighting a legal battle for almost six years.

Rachana, who has a masters degree in business administration from Ignou, today deposed before chief judicial magistrate Narendra Prasad, saying Mishra called off his marriage to her in 2006 as her parents could not meet his demand of dowry of Rs 1 crore.

After hearing her, the court summoned Mishra’s parents and also the marriage negotiators — Ashok Thakur, Shravan Mishra and Amar G. Jha. Rachana’s advocate Naresh Jha said: “During hearing of the case, neither Amit nor his parents were physically present in the court.”

Mishra’s lawyer, Tript Nath Jha, refused to comment on the issue on the plea that “the case was sub judice in the court of the CJM”.

Mishra and his family belong to Tanuar village under Manigachhi police station of Darbhanga, while Rachana hails from Bengali Tola in the same district. In course of deposition, known as “part chief examination” in legal parlance, Rachana orally confirmed the allegations she has levelled against the IFS officer and his family.

Rachana, in her submission to the court, said she and Mishra underwent a ring ceremony at Delhi in June 2005 following which their marriage was fixed on March 6, 2006. But the marriage was called off in the wake of Devchandra Mishra asking for Rs 1 crore in dowry. Rachana said her father Shankar Kumar Jha, an engineer with the irrigation department, could not pay the amount.

Rachana later told The Telegraph “Amit sided with his family members and refused to marry me after my father failed to cough up the huge amount. Amit’s father made the demand for the dowry after some other families interested in his son offered him more. But my parents were unable to meet the huge demand.”

By the time the marriage was called off, Rachana said, her parents had already shelled out Rs 14 lakh. “We have already produced evidence of Rs 7 lakh given to Amit’s family in the court. We have also submitted the photographs of the ring ceremony, SMSs and other evidence in the court,” she said.

On the intervention of the National Commission for Women (NCW), the Laheriasarai police station in Darbhanga had registered the case in 2006.