Bokaro, July 7: State women's commission chairperson Mahua Maji today took police help to get a young, educated homemaker released from confinement, two years after her husband locked her up at home, but did not lodge a case against him in deference to the woman's family.
The bizarre case serves an eye-opener to gender inequality rife in middle-class families.
According to bare facts, Jenny Sunita Lakra, a graduate and daughter of late R. Ekka who had been the Bokaro city magistrate, married for 16 years to railway employee Gulshan Lakra, was locked up for two years at his Balidih quarters, 16km from Bokaro city.
People had last seen Sunita on July 1, 2013. Calling her mentally unstable and unfit to mix in society, Gulshan had locked her up in a room and put up a grille outside it.
Though Sunita's mother Asha Rani, a Bokaro Steel employee who retired this June, and businessman brother Dhiraj knew about it, they did not lodge an FIR against Gulshan as they neither wanted him to lose his railway job nor did they want a divorce for Sunita.
Sunita's 13-year-old daughter lives with Gulshan's sister in Ranchi. Her eight-year-old son stays with Asha Rani in her Sector IV company quarters. The son had been taken away by his grandmother some years ago when he had apparently started crying over his father beating up his mother.
Still, keeping the marriage intact seemed to be the family's priority.
Today, when Maji visited Bokaro, responding to Asha Rani's call to release her daughter Sunita from Gulshan's confinement, she also toed the conservative line.
In her order, Maji said Sunita would now live for the next two months with Asha Rani and Dhiraj at the Sector IV quarters. Gulshan will give Sunita Rs 3,500 as monthly maintenance, Maji added.
The women's commission would take a final decision after that, during which time they would also keep tabs on Sunita's mental health.
Gulshan, currently posted at the loco shed, had all along told his neighbours that his wife was mentally retarded. Though he wanted Sunita to be in an asylum, he kept her at home with him as he did not want his mother-in-law Asha Rani to feel bad, he had said.
But, Maji said she found Sunita "looking very sane" today. "Sunita talked very normally and looked very normal. She cooked food for herself everyday. Anyone kept in total confinement for two years will go mad but Sunita looks very normal to me," she said.
Asha Rani, on her part, said she knew the couple had problems from the start. "Soon after marriage, Sunita found out Gulshan was a habitual drinker. But, they stayed under one roof and two children were born. Later, they had big differences after which Gulshan handed over his daughter to his sister in Ranchi. When the son saw his mother getting scolded everyday, he told me he didn't want to stay with his father. I brought him with me," the elderly lady said.
She continued to visit Balidih railway colony to settle the matter between the couple.
But, asked why she did not file an FIR against Gulshan, Asha Rani said: "I did not want my son-in-law to lose his job. Sunita and the kids would have suffered more had he lost his job or got involved in a police case."
Maji stressed Sunita's mother did not want a police case to be filed even today.
Gulshan spewed venom against his wife. "She drinks, chews tobacco and zarda. She is mentally unstable. How can I allow my mentally ill wife out of the house? That's why I didn't keep my children with me," he said. "If anything goes wrong I will quit my job and go to an undisclosed place and everyone will suffer," he added.
