A man from Bihar, accused of murdering his wife, was arrested; subsequently, years later, the ‘victim’ was found alive and in good health by the police, as some kind of movie story with all the twists. The sensational revelation has sent shockwaves through the community and raised questions about justice and family ties.
It all began with one Dharamsheela Devi from Ara who was reported to have suffered severe domestic violence at the hands of her husband. She took shelter in her parental home, but soon, more anguish befell her as her mother died. Then, the accusations that her father had started to misbehave with her led the girl to despair.
Once, she considered throwing herself in front of a railway train but was intercepted by a passerby who asked her to unload the burden of her troubles onto him. The chance encounter led to a `marriage in front of the gods’ at a temple on the banks of the Ganges, through which Dharamsheela was hopeful of escaping the hellish conditions of her life.
While her father, who had thought his daughter was no more, filed a murder complaint against Deepak and the rest of the family. In the meanwhile, on 31st October 2020, the police recovered a body near Sone River, which her father claimed to be that of Dharamsheela. The post-mortem revealed the identity of the body to be that of a woman, based on which Deepak was arrested for murder charges.
Cut to four years later, the plot thickened when police found Dharamsheela alive in Mirganj Mohalla, Gopalganj district, and she told the police that her father had lodged a false FIR; he had identified the wrong woman’s body as hers, which led to her husband’s wrongful conviction.
Dharamsheela told them she was married to Ajay Kahar, who had two children. Interestingly, the police have admitted that this case is no less complex and that they were also investigating her claims against her father.
This shocking testimony by Dharamsheela Devi points not only to the dark alleys of domestic abuse but also to how a family can go tragically awry.
