Woman Punched, Confined To Home By Brother For Buying Suit In Delhi

A 20-year-old woman was allegedly beaten up, punched in her eyes and confined to the house by her younger brother, who was angry at her for buying a suit worth Rs 100, the Delhi Commission For Women said on Tuesday.

The police received a call from the DCW last Monday about the incident in Dwarka. The staff of the ''Mahila Panchayat Programme'' of the DCW were conducting door-to-door visits when they heard the screams of the woman.

"When they enquired from the neighbours, they were informed that the woman's brother usually beats her up," the DCW said. "Taking immediate action, the team of the commission approached the house where she had been locked up."

When the team tried to enter the house, the brother abused them and threatened to attack them. Somehow, the team managed to enter the shanty and found the woman lying on the floor in blood with her eyes punctured and face swollen, the DCW said.

According to the commission, the woman from Bihar had recently bought a suit worth Rs 100, which angered her younger brother. In a fit of rage, it said, she was "brutally" assaulted by the 17-year-old, who kept her confined inside the shanty without providing any medical aid.

The woman was admitted to the Safdarjung hospital, where she continues to be "critically ill and in a state of trauma", the DCW claimed, adding that the doctors were waiting for the swelling to subside to properly assess the damage to her eyes.

But, according to the police, the doctors said the eyes of the injured woman were fine and she had already been discharged from the hospital on Monday.

DCW chief Swati Maliwal and panel members Firdaus and Kiran Negi visited the woman in the hospital and are closely monitoring her health condition.

The parents of the woman, who were in their native village, have been contacted and returned back, the panel said, adding that it had issued summons to the officer-in-charge to take action against the boy.

The statement of the woman was recorded last Friday in the presence of her parents. Police said the woman had stated that she did not want any legal action against her brother.

The DCW has learnt that apart from assaulting his elder sister, the teenager used to often beat up his two other younger siblings. "The boy's younger sister, aged eight, informed the commission that the day before assaulting her elder sister, he had also attacked her," it said. "Marks of him having tried to bite her were clearly visible on her hands."

The DCW has approached the court for compensation for the girl and is providing her all necessary support in the hospital, the panel said.

All the minor children were produced before the child welfare committee and were kept in a children home.