Indian Woman & Her 13-Month-Old Daughter “Set On Fire” By Husband And In-Laws Over Dowry

Pravartika Gupta and her 13-Month-Old Daughter A 25-year-old BTech graduate, who was allegedly burnt alive by her husband and in-laws at their Sarojini Nagar house in south Delhi over a week ago, succumbed to her burns at Safdarjung hospital on Sunday morning [Oct 14].  The 13-month-old daughter of the victim, who also suffered burns in the incident, is still undergoing treatment at the hospital. She suffered 55 % burns and her condition is stated to be critical. The deceased was identified as Pravartika Gupta and the incident took place at a flat in the NDMC Apartments in Sarojini Nagar on October 6. After Pravartika's death, the Sarojini Nagar police, which had registered a case under section 498 A (harassment by husband or his relatives), added section 304 B (dowry death) in the case and arrested her mother-in-lawSushma. Pravartika's husband Ashutosh, a manager in an event management company in Gurgaon, and her father-in-law Ram Mohan Gupta, an assistant engineer with NDMC, are evading arrest, police said. Pravartika did her B.Tech from Aligarh Muslim University and she got married to Ashutosh two years ago. "The deceased’s father alleged that the accused family members had demanded Rs. 10 lakh as dowry from him. The harassment continued even as he paid Rs. 6 lakh in cash to Pravartika's in-laws. We have arrested the victim's mother-in-law, but her husband and father-in-law are still on large. Efforts are on to nab them at the earliest", the police said. One of Pravartika's neighbours said she was set on fire by her in-laws following a heated argument on October 6. "It was around 9.30 am that we saw smoke billowing out of a window of their house and later heard screams of a woman, on hearing the screams, some of us went to their house. We found a badly-burntPravartika lying on the floor. Her husband and daughter also had burns", said the neighbour adding the victims were immediately rushed to Safdarjung hospital.