Rihana Sheikh, 25, who hails from Hirminiya VDC of Banke district, was burnt allegedly by her husband Farid Sheikh more than a month ago, though the incident was came into light on Monday. Farid, a resident of Laxmanpur VDC of Banke, supposedly set his wife ablaze for not bringing a handsome dowry of motorcycle and a buffalo.
Rihana was confined in a room for two days soon after she was set ablaze. Only two days after when her health condition started worsening, she was rushed to a hospital in India for treatment. But, her husband and in-laws warned her of finishing her with a poison syringe if she disclosed the incident.
The incident was made public only after Rihana’s family reported it to local office of Informal Sector Service Center (Insec) on Monday. According to victim’s family members they approached Insec after the local police seemed reluctance to file the lodge.
A local human rights group brought the woman to a Kathmandu hospital on Monday where she remains in a critical condition, with lower parts of her body have been badly injured.
Rihana was reportedly pregnant when she was burnt on March 17. Later, while undergoing treatment at Bheri Zonal Hospital on April 24, she had a miscarriage.
Her hubby used to thrash her mercilessly even before she was burnt. According to the victims her would burn her private parts with lighted cigarettes. “On that day, my husband tied my hands, poured kerosene over my body and then set me on fire”, Rihana told to local newspapers
Though Nepalese activists have long called for stern action against dowry system, perpetrators of dowry-related violence has been escalated in the traditional societies.