Dowry harassment kills young Uttarakhand govt teacher; In-laws booked

Sorry Mummy... I am leaving. I have been enduring all this for the past six months. I can't bear it anymore." These are probably the last words of Srishti Kandari, who was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her in-laws' home.

Srishti, a government teacher who got married in November last year, was found dead on Wednesday. Her husband Saurabh Khatri, who worked at the Uttarakhand Secretariat, her mother-in-law Parveena Devi and sister-in-law Charu have been booked in a case of dowry death.

The 30-year-old woman left behind a purported video for her mother, detailing in heartbreaking detail the ordeal she had been through in the last six months.

"These people can never change. "I thought everything would be fine... then I thought it would get better later, but these people call me 'manhoos' (inauspicious) every day," she says in the selfie video, sobbing uncontrollably and barely getting her words out.

The purported 56-second video, Srishti's last testament, came into the public domain on Thursday night and quickly went viral.

According to the police, Srishti allegedly hanged herself from the ceiling fan in a room at her in-laws' home in the Harrawala area on Wednesday.

She was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared her dead.

Srishti, as tears rolled down her eyes, said that she could no longer bear the mental anguish and stress caused by the mistreatment she faced at her in-laws' house over the past months.

According to the police, the case has been registered at the Doiwala police station under Section 80(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) based on a complaint filed by the deceased's mother, Seema Kandari.

Srishti was employed as a teacher at a government school in Tehri district.

In the complaint, Srishti's mother alleged that ever since the marriage, her daughter had been subjected to mental and physical harassment over dowry demands and other issues.

She further alleged that the in-laws constantly humiliated Srishti and taunted her daily by calling her "manhoos".

According to the complaint, Srishti's husband and in-laws were also blaming her for the recent death of Khatri's father, claiming that all misfortunes had begun occurring after she entered the household following the marriage.

In her complaint, Seema Kandari has accused Saurabh and his family of murdering her daughter and demanded their immediate arrest.