A 19-year-old pregnant woman killed herself due to alleged dowry harassment near Golconda on Thursday. The deceased, identified as Soumaya, was married in May this year to Shiva Kumar. She had been living with her parents for the last 20 days.
After getting married, the couple had shifted to Film Nagar in Hyderabad. The woman had allegedly been physically and mentally harassed by her in-laws and husband since the wedding. Twenty days ago, Soumaya moved back to her parent’s house, and was said to be four months pregnant at the time of her death, Golconda Inspector K Chandra Shekar Reddy inspector told ToI.
Both the families of Soumaya and Shiva were close relatives, Vijay, a cousin of Soumaya told TNM. "At the time of marriage, [Shiva’s family] had demanded property. Soumaya’s family handed over the only house they have in a slum to her in-laws. But after the marriage, they wanted more. The couple would argue over this issue. Her in-laws finally said Shiva would get a better proposal and better dowry." Shiva Kumar works as a helper at a godown, Vijay added.
Earlier in December, the Kukatpally court sentenced a 31-year-old techie to seven years in prison for the dowry harassment-related death of his wife in 2015. The accused in the case, Simhadri Bala Kishore, was married to Eesha Phani in April 2015. Police say that at the time of their marriage, his family had demanded Rs 50 lakh and other household articles as dowry. After marriage, the family demanded another Rs 25 lakh as dowry. Two months after the wedding Eesha took her own life.