Jyoti Ranjan Pradhan and Rojalin Pradhan (file pictures)

Bhubaneswar, April 9: The family members of a woman who committed suicide two weeks ago in Gurgaon today lodged a complaint with the State Commission for Women (SCW) demanding action against her in-laws, alleging that they had been torturing her for dowry.

The woman, Rojalin Pradhan, was married to software engineer Jyoti Ranjan Pradhan in May 2010 and she committed suicide at her Gurgaon residence on March 27. Her family members said she had been staying with her husband there since November last year. They accused Rojalin’s husband of torturing her for more dowry and this forced her to take the extreme step.

The woman’s parents said the Gurgaon police had arrested her husband.

“However, her in-laws staying in Bhubaneswar put pressure on us to settle the matter and threatened my son, who is studying engineering in Bhubaneswar, with dire consequences. Other members of their family have not been arrested yet and they are staying in Patia. We want them behind bars, as they had also tortured my daughter,” said Bidyutlata Swain, mother of the deceased.

According to Rojalin’s father Akhsya Swain, who is an employee with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Talcher, his daughter’s in-laws had been torturing her physically and mentally ever since she had got married.

“We had given in to all their demands after the wedding. We had given them Rs 5 lakh in dowry along with other items. But they went on harassing my daughter demanding more money. Their entire family was torturing her,” Akhsya said.

Rojalin’s family members alleged that their daughter’s in-laws had hatched a plan to kill her and sent her to Gurgaon along with her husband where she could not easily be contacted by her family members.

Bidyutlata said that on March 26, she got a call from her daughter asking for help as her husband was torturing her and threatening to kill her. The very next day the family got the information that she committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan.

Rojalin’s family lodged a complaint with the Sector 18 police in Gurgaon against the husband and in-laws.

The police arrested Jyoti Ranjan and he is now in jail in Gurgaon. Rojalin’s family members had approached the Mahila police here some days ago, but the police here did not entertain their complaints as the incident had already been reported at a Gurgaon police station. The family then approached the SCW seeking intervention.