Shantilata Kheti with her hands tied inside a van. Telegraph picture

Sonepur, Jan. 6: In an incident of dowry-related torture, a woman, her hands and feet bound, was rescued by Birmaharajpur police in Subarnapur district from a van in Radiapali village yesterday evening.

Acting on a complaint lodged by the woman, police have registered a case under the Prohibition of Dowry act against the woman’s in-laws.

Villagers of Radiapali found a woman from their village, Shatilata Kheti, in a Tata van with her hands and legs bound yesterday evening. Her three-year-old son was on her lap and she was accompanied by her father in-law, mother in-law, brothers-in-law and two other who had come to hand over Shantilata to her father as their dowry demands hadn’t been fulfilled.

The villagers immediately informed police who acted swiftly to rescue Shantilata. Before they could arrive, however, one of the brothers-in-laws of Shantilata fled the spot. Inspector in-charge of Birmaharajpur police station Manoj Kumar Swain said he was informed by the villagers about the incident.

“Acting on Shantilata’s complaint we have registered a case under the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, against the four sisters-in-law and two brothers-in-law of Shantilata. We have not registered case against her husband, father in-law and mother in-law as she has said they were innocent. We have transferred the case to Ulunda police station as the incident took place in Khemaloe, her in-laws’ village, which falls in Ulunda police limits,” Swain said.

The inspector in-charge of Ulunda police station, Manas Swain, said no arrests ha dbeen made so far. “The case has just been transferred here. We are working on it, and will soon arrest the guilty.”

Shantilata said she was married to Markanda Kheti five years ago and her husband was a nice person. She also had no complaints against her father-in-law and mother-in-law and called them innocent. “My four sisters-in-laws and two brothers- in-law used to torture me physically and mentally, demanding dowry. They threatened me several times and asked me to leave the house, but I refused to leave. Yesterday my brothers-in-law tied my hands and legs, put me and my son in a van and took us to our village Radiapali to hand me over to my father,” she said.

Shantilata’s father-in-law Abadhoot Kheti said they had to tie her as she had threatened to commit suicide. “We were scared as she had threatened to commit suicide. So we tied her up and brought her to her father’s village. We have not tortured her,” he said.

Expressing concern, president of the Sonepur-based women’s organisation Subarna Nari Jagaran Kendra, Meena Maharana, said that the in-laws of Shantilata had crossed all limits by treating her like an animal.

“We have come across several such cases and have drawn attention of the State Commission for Women. The commission says that such cases will be taken up during its Gaon Chalo campaign,” she said.