Inspector goes soft on woman despite husband’s suicide note

July 20, 2010

Tells victim’s family that laws favour the fair sex and he would book even a dog if a woman filed a complaint against it


Here’s a cop with a difference. Mico Layout Police Inspector C N Janardhana Rao believes that the law will always support a woman, no matter what. He told the victim’s family who went to lodge a complaint that he would book even a dog if a woman files a complaint against it.

No wonder he refused to take up a suo motu case of abetment of suicide against Ruchi Goel, wife of Ashish Goel, a senior software engineer with Trainz Consulting who recently killed himself, despite his leaving behind a note that clearly implicated his wife in his death. “Our laws always favour a woman victim and not a male victim,” Rao said.


BRASS TACKS

Ashish hanged himself at his BTM Layout house on June 23. He left a suicide note stating that he took the step because his wife had threatened him with a dowry harassment case if he did not pay her Rs 1 crore. When Mico Layout police refused to register a case, Ashish’s family leveraged some powerful political contacts in Delhi. The police finally registered a case on June 30. Rao confirmed this. “I was compelled to register a case against the girl because of pressure from Goel’s family,” he said.

Rao’s boss, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East) B N S Reddy, however, has a different take on the matter. “There is no difference between a man or woman in the eyes of the law. If my officer has taken a contrary stand, it is wrong and he needs to be corrected. I will direct him to speed up the investigation,’’ he said.

A SORRY AFFAIR

Ashish and Ruchi got married in April 2009. She hailed from Meerut while he came from neighbouring Aligarh. Apparently, Ashish had an affair with another girl before he married Ruchi. After Ruchi learnt about it, the issue became a source of constant friction between the couple. Three months after their marriage, she went back to her parents’ home. After a while, Ashish brought her back to Bangalore.

But the fights continued and in April this year Ashish, according to his family, was pressured to try and find a job in Meerut. On June 20, he got a call from Ruchi in which she reportedly demanded Rs 1 crore in a week’s time, failing which she threatened to file a dowry harassment case against him and his family. This apparently acted as the trigger for Ashish to kill himself.