Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’, very well intentionedscheme of ensuring that our daughters are taken care of and married off withouta burden on their parents, is running the risk of becoming a tool in the handsof unscrupulous in-laws to demand the money from the girl.
This isn’t the problem of the scheme, but of the way oursociety still is. The death of thedisabled Chhaya Naik, passed off as suicide but looks like murder, is ashocking wakeup call that the one lakh rupees that a newlywed bride gets, couldbe the target of greedy in-laws andhusbands. Chhaya Naik’s case is particularly tragic because she was disabledand got married off to a deaf and mute man Renukant. She apparently complainedof harassment from day one when rupees one lakh was credited to her, as one ofthe first recipients of the scheme. As we have extensively reported, when otherso-called “voices” of Goa have remained silent or unaware, Chayya used themoney to be the good daughter she was. To pay back those who lent money to herfather and get back the jewellery pawned by her family to take care of her wedding expenses. But her in-laws kepton demanding the money.
Since Chhaya was found hanging, there is one non debatablebottom line “ that her death was not natural. What now needs to be probed andhas shockingly hasn’t, is whether she hung herself or if she was killed andhung. In a departure from routine the post mortem conducted by the veteranSylvano Sapeco of GMC, has actually asked a whether her death by strangulationcould have been possible, since Chayya had only one functional hand. The otherwas disabled.
With these facts staring them in the face, why has the Pondapolice not even begun a probe by registering this as a dowry death case andtaking the family of the husband into custody for questioning? This happenedbarely five months after her marriage, well under the seven year mark. The circumstances which led to the death andthe post mortem report make it a fit case to be examined for murder. We aregiven to understand that the husband’s family’s “political connections” is preventing a full examination. The Goanwill not allow that.
However there is a larger issue here. What kind of a societydo we live in where families of husbands eye the money that their daughters inlaw receive, for their families to marry them off with dignity. How can this moneybe a source of greed? The Laadli Laxmi scheme cannot and should not be allowedto turn into a source of “lalaach” (greed) for families with boys ofmarriageable age. Goa deserves better.
