Rape
(Representational Image)Creative Commons

A retired judge in the Hyderabad and Madras High Courts has been booked after his daughter-in-law filed a dowry harassment compalint. The complaint was filed against retired judge Nooty Ramamohana Rao, his wife Nooty Durga Jaya Laxmi and their son Nooty Vasista. The complainant, Sindhu Sharma (30), said she was assaulted last week. The complaint said her in-laws and husband mentally and physically harassed her for dowry.

The Women Police Station registered cases under section 498 (A) (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of IPC and section 4 and 6 of Dowry Prohibition Act against the accused, the Indian Express reported. 

After she was assaulted last week, Sindhu approached said her husband of seven years, Nooty Vasista, and her in-laws physically assaulted, asking for more dowry. On April 20, Sindhu was hurt badly and she had to be taken to the hospital.

Sindhu has been married to Nooty Vasista since 2012. "The wedding took place in 2012. They were continuously harassing her and demanding dowry from then itself. Over the last two years or so, it escalated with the family beating her mercilessly, and putting her through mental torture," Sindhu's uncle told the The News Minute.

Her uncle added: "They took her to Apollo hospital in Jubilee Hills and seeing her injuries, the doctors insisted on a medico-legal case (MLC)." According to the report, Sindhu suffered from what looked like nail scratches over chest and bruises on her right shoulder and arm. She also had abrasions over other parts of her body.

While Sindhu managed to escape from her in-laws' house, and is recovering in her parents' place at Uppal, her one-year-old child and three-year-old daughter are with her husband and his parents now.

The accused haven't been arrested but they will be asked to come in for questioning. Sindhu's uncle alleged that this was not the first time that a complaint has been filed against the trio. In the past, the police had just ignored the complaint, he said. However, due to the extent of injuries Sindhu has suffered, a case was filed.

Justice Nooty Ramamohana Rao served as a judge in the Hyderabad High Court and was transferred to the Madras High Court in 2016. He retired in August 2017.