New Delhi, Aug 11 (IANS) Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has written to Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar seeking immediate action in the suicide case of Mandeep Kaur, who died by suicide in New York due to domestic violence.
In her letter, DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal demanded that the woman's mortal remains be repatriated to her family in India and a team of psychologists, social workers and police officers meet her children and ascertain their condition.
A report on the same be submitted before a Judicial Magistrate, who should be requested to examine the matter and suggest steps for the welfare of the children. The same should be carried out urgently, she stated.
The letter said that it appears that the accused was arrested by NYPD, but the present status of his arrest is unknown. Measures should be taken to ensure his arrest and if needed, the GOI should appoint a lawyer on behalf of the family of the victim to fight the case expeditiously.
The FIRS filed against the accused and his family in India should be investigated and tried in a time-bound manner. Efforts must be made to work towards ensuring that such a case does not re-occur.
"All consulates and NGOs should be asked to get in touch with NRI women and in case any of them is a victim of domestic violence, requisite help should be provided," she said.
Thirty-two year-old Mandeep Kaur had died by suicide in New York on August 3. Before taking the extreme step, she had recorded a video recounting the abuses she suffered at the hands of her husband Ranjodhbeer Singh Sandhu over the past eight years.
She was married to him in 2015 and moved to New York in 2018. After the marriage, she was harassed by her husband and in-laws for not giving birth to a male child and for not getting "enough" dowry.
The now-deceased woman can also be heard talking about her husband's multiple extramarital affairs. She made several unsuccessful attempts to escape her abusive marriage before committing suicide.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that he "personally" feels that alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab had cost the BJP heavily.
India on Tuesday recorded 1,68,063 new Covid cases, taking the total tally to 8,21,446. Although the fresh infections were 6.4 per cent less than Monday when the country logged 1,79,723, the weekly positivity rate has climbed to 8.85 per cent and the daily positivity rate has declined to 10.64 per cent. On the other hand, 4,461 Omicron cases were recorded from 28 states.
Delhi reported a 25 per cent surge in Covid-19 cases after recording 19,166 fresh cases. With this, the infection tally has climbed to 15,68,896. Meanwhile, the city has recorded 17 Covid deaths on the second consecutive day, pushing the death toll to 25,177.
On Monday, after a detailed hearing in the matter, a bench, headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, said the court will set up a committee headed by a retired top court judge to probe the PM's security breach and asked both the Centre and Punjab government to not move ahead with their respective inquiries into the matter.
Several Supreme Court advocates on Monday claimed to have received an international call with a recorded message asking the apex court not to help the Central government by taking up a case connected with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security breach in Punjab last week.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress are projected to poll 40 per cent and 36 per cent votes in Punjab, respectively, as per the ABP-CVOTER Battle for the States survey. The 117-member Punjab Assembly will go to the polls on February 14, and the counting of votes will be taken up on March 10.
