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Patna, Jan. 31: Rupam Pathak, literally speaking, is fighting it out alone.
Her husband, Ashok Pathak, claims that he is weighed down with responsibilities of the couple’s children and his job, which are preventing him to come down to Patna from Imphal in Manipur.
Meanwhile, Purnea chief judicial magistrate Daya Lal Prasad today extended Rupam’s judicial custody till February 11. Though the proceedings of the court were not carried out because of the statewide lawyers’ strike, Rupam and Nawlesh Pathak were brought before the court. The judge turned down Nawlesh’s plea of submitting an application before the court.
Almost a month after 40-year-old Rupam, a school teacher in Purnea district stabbed MLA Rajkishore Keshari to death, Ashok is yet to be with his wife, presently lodged in the Purnea divisional jail.
The case has been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Rupam’s mother’s plea of allowing her daughter to receive treatment at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) has been rejected.
Ashok told The Telegraph over the phone from Manipur on Monday that he had no option but to stay back because of his children’s studies. The principal of Hundred Flowers Higher Secondary School, Ashok, had earlier said he would come to Purnea to be with his wife by January 15.
“Yes, I was to be present. But my daughter’s second pre-board examinations started on January 24 and will end on February 3. After this, she will have her school practical examinations. Our son Ayush, is a student of Class VI at Kendriya Vidyalaya. Neha is 17 years old and I just cannot leave them here and come down to Purnea. There is no one to take care of them here,” Ashok said.
Psychologists say the presence of the husband is indeed very important.
“Marriage is a bonding and the wife and husband should be physically present for each other in times of crisis,” said Arvind Kumar Sinha, a Patna-based psychiatrist. Rupam had alleged rape and continuous sexual harassment against Keshari and his personal assistant Bipin Rai.
