| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dowry-busting girl a sham?
From CNN correspondent Suhasini Haidar
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Feted by media and praised by politicians, Nisha Sharma shot to fame a few months ago when she sent her groom and his family to jail for allegedly demanding an exorbitant dowry. But now she is in the dock herself. A former classmate says she had married him earlier this year before she called off another wedding arranged by her parents. Navneet Rai, Nisha's classmate at a software engineering school, says Nisha accused her in-laws of demanding a dowry so that she could get out of the marriage and come back to him. Rai says Nisha changed her mind once she became famous. "All these stars and politicians were coming to see her. I began to look very small compared to them," Rai said. Rai produced an affidavit he says was signed by Nisha admitting marrying him, and photographs of them together. But Nisha denies signing the document, and says the photographs prove nothing. She has also complained to the police about Rai. "I will fight these allegations, so other girls won't be afraid to fight society," Nisha said. Shashi Sunny from Savvy Women's Magazine says people are confused. "Was she a heroine, or was she misusing the law? Was she a clever girl trying to cheat the world?" Women's activists say they hope the controversy doesn't take away from the larger issue of dowry killings. Police figures show more than 6,000 women are murdered by their in-laws each year for bringing an insufficient dowry. Kiran Sharma says her daughter Kajal is one of such victims. Now, as she fights her daughter's in-laws in court, she says Nisha Sharma's case gave her courage to go on. She just wishes her daughter Kajal had also had the courage like Nisha, she says, to stand up and say no to dowry.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
