New Delhi:
The lawyer of Jagriti Singh, the dentist wife of BSP parliamentarian Dhananjay Singh accused of murdering a domestic help, today pleaded in court that she is acutely depressed, which causes spells of uncontrollable behaviour and so should be deemed mentally unstable. The Delhi court was unmoved; it has remanded the couple to four days in judicial custody.
The judge sought documents to support the plea that Mrs Singh was mentally unstable and said, "she can be suffering from depression but is she trying to seek immunity via legal insanity?"
The 29-year-old Dr Singh is accused of torturing and murdering Rakhi Bhadra, a domestic help who worked in their posh home in the heart of Delhi last week. Her husband has been accused of destruction of evidence. He has applied for bail and that plea will be heard on November 15.
The police's investigation has so far assembled a narrative of profligate and pathological torture among the different people who worked for 29-year-old Jagriti, who was allegedly estranged from her husband.
Rakhi Bhadra was brought to the national capital from West Bengal with the promise of a livelihood. But over the last 10 months as a domestic help at Dhananjay Singh's house, she was brutally abused and allegedly tortured by Dr Singh till she died. Her body had burn marks and injuries on the chest, stomach, arms and legs. She had been burnt with an iron rod on different parts of her body.
Another help employed at the MP's home, Meena, alleged that she too was treated like an animal by his wife. She was made to crouch over her meals and eat without using her hands, she has told the police while recovering in hospital from serious injuries on her hands and legs, all allegedly inflicted by Dr Singh.
There is also a 17-year-old employee who cannot be named for legal reasons who has said that Dr Singh had security cameras installed in the bathroom used by her domestic helpers and that sometimes, when she flew into a rage, she would beat them with sticks and a metal replica of antlers.
The politician and his wife were arrested last Tuesday, hours after Rakhi was found dead in their home.