Jhansi: Following the death of a married woman who was found hanging at the house where she lived with her husband and four-year-old child, the child produced an illustration by her which suggested that the husband murdered the woman and hanged her.
The woman endured years of physical and mental harassment over various issues, including dowry and giving birth to a girl child.
The 27-year-old woman was found hanging at Panchavati Shiv Parivar Colony under the Kotwali area of Jhansi, and her in-laws had informed her family hanged herself. However, a drawing and a statement by the woman's daughter suggested that her husband killed her before hanging her.
The daughter, Darshita, told the media that her mother, Sonali Budholia, was murdered by her father, a medical representative, Sandeep Budholia.
"Papa assaulted and killed mummy. He then said, 'Die if you want to'. He hanged her body and hit her head with a stone. Later, he brought down the body and dumped it inside a sack," NDTV quoted the four-year-old. She, who lit the deceased woman's pyre, showed reporters a drawing of the alleged assault.
The child said that her father had threatened to kill her mother earlier. She said that she had told him once that if he toucher her mother again, she would break his hand, she said.
"He used to beat her, saying she should die and that I should meet the same fate as her," she said.