On Saturday, July 19, the Madurai police arrested constable Bhoopalan in a case of domestic violence and dowry harassment. Bhoopalan, a constable at the Appanthirupathi station in Madurai, is accused of brutally assaulting his wife over dowry. He had been suspended from service earlier.
Bhoopalan’s wife Thangapriya, who works as a teacher at a private school, was also allegedly harassed by his parents and sister. His father Senthilkumaran, who is an inspector of police in Virudhunagar district, has also reportedly been suspended from service.
On Friday, July 18, a voice clip of a phone call purportedly between Bhoopalan and his sister Anita had surfaced, in which he could be heard describing the assault. “I became irritated when she spoke back to me, and I clawed her mouth. She screamed out of the pain, and I choked her to avoid the sound. I made her kneel and locked up her legs, and she cannot even walk now,” he said.
Following the violence, Thangapriya was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Madurai’s Government Rajaji Hospital. She was reportedly later discharged from hospital. The couple have two sons, aged seven and five.
In her complaint, Thangapriya said that Bhoopalan and his family have been harassing her for money, gold, and a house. She added that when they got married in 2017, her family had given Bhoopalan 60 sovereigns of gold, a motorcycle, and other household articles.
The latest instance of violence allegedly took place after Thangapriya refused to ask her family to offer gold on the occasion of their son’s ear-piercing ceremony.
The Appanthirupathi police have registered a dowry harassment case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Dowry Prohibition Act against Bhoopalan, his parents, and sister.