Nineteen-year-old Prem Kala Thakur has sustained injuries all over her body and hospitalized after an incident of domestic violence in Musaharniya of Rajbiraj Municipality-15, Saptari. She has been receiving treatment at Gajendra Narayan Singh Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital, Rajbiraj.

She was badly beaten on Saturday night by her father-in-law Bhubaneshwor, mother-in-law Radhiya Devi and husband Manoj apparently after she requested her family members to register her marriage and apply for citizenship certificate, according to her father Mohan Thakur.

She has bruises all over her body and has been passing out recurrently because of the pain, said Thakur.

Prem Kala was married to Manoj in 2017 April-May. Her father Mohan said his daughter had been subjected to repeated domestic violence a few days after she was married off.  He said he had spent Rs 12,00,000 including a dowry of Rs 400,000 for Prem Kala’s marriage. He said her in-laws were reluctant to register the marriage and get the citizenship certificate.  

Mohan said on many occasions in the past he settled the case in the presence of local representatives after his daughter was abused, and never bothered with a lawsuit in order to save his daughter’s marriage.

He said that on Saturday he went for the rescue of his daughter, upon learning that she was beaten and confined inside the house by her in-laws, and took her to the hospital for treatment. “She was badly beaten and confined inside the house,” said Mohan, “Had I not reached on time, my daughter could’ve died.”

He said he has lodged a complaint with Saptari District Police Office against Prem Kala’s husband and in-laws.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Min Bahadur Chhetri of Women and Children service desk at the district police office said they have deployed a police team to search for the family members after a case of domestic violence was registered. “The accused family members have been absconding,” he said.