The case of Pooja Chauhan, has taken a new turn with the NCW stating she had not complained of dowry torture but of sexual harassment.
NEW DELHI: The case of Pooja Chauhan, who made headlines by protesting in the semi-nude in Rajkot city, has taken a new turn with the National Commission for Women (NCW) stating she had not complained of dowry torture but of sexual harassment.
The NCW team, which met Chauhan earlier this week, said she had not made any complaint of dowry harassment but appeared to have a long and shocking history of being sexually exploited.
"Pooja has not made any complaint of dowry harassment either to police in writing or to us in her statement," Malini Bhattacharya, the NCW member who met Chauhan for a fact-finding report, told.
Bhattacharya however said: "She had complained about the harassment she had to go through in her husband's family."
Chauhan, 21, hit headlines last week when, in a unique form of protest, she walked through the streets of Rajkot in Gujarat in her underwear, alleging torture and harassment by her husband and in-laws.
Local police then filed a dowry harassment case against her husband's family under the Domestic Violence Act.
But the NCW's findings may change the course of the case.
"Pooja seems to have a long history of being sexually harassed. One has to look into that angle too," Bhattacharya said adding that she would submit the report to the NCW in a week.
According to the NCW team, Chauhan had been a victim of child trafficking and had been "misused" by various people. In her statement to the team, Chauhan has given the name of some people who allegedly exploited her sexually.
"We have given the names to the police commissioner," Bhattacharya told a television channel.
However, the city police claimed they were still looking into the domestic violence case filed against Chauhan's husband's family.
Her husband Pratap, mother-in-law Hansa and two neighbours - who according to Pooja tried to kill her on behalf of her in-laws - were arrested immediately after Chauhan resorted to her drastic form of protest.
Chauhan is currently staying with her parents in Rajkot and has demanded financial support for herself and her two and a half year old daughter from her husband and also sought police protection for herself.
A court there has ordered police protection for her and directed her landlord in Shastrinagar, where she has been staying for a year, to allow her to stay there for some more time.
Her in-laws claim she had been married twice earlier and that she had gone out of their house on her own. The Karadia Rajput community to which they belong has also come out against Chauhan's semi-nude protest.
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