Nationalist Congress Party’s Legislative Council Member Vidya Chavan and four members of her family including husband, two sons, and daughter-in-law are booked over allegations of harassment, cruelty and assault of her daughter-in-law. An FIR has been registered against them in Vile Parle.
Along with MLC Vidya Chavan, her husband Abhijeet, her two sons Anand (victim’s brother-in-law), Ajit(Victim’s husband) and Sheetal(Victim’s sister-in-law and Anand’s wife) are booked under sections 498-A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of Indian Penal Code.
The FIR was registered after a complaint was filed regarding the same on 16 January. Vidya Chavan denied allegations while talking to news agency PTI indulged in victim shaming and accused her daughter-in-law of having multiple affairs.
An official while quoting the victim said that her brother-in-law used to make inappropriate gestures. Victim has accused her sister-in-law too of mentally harassing her while she was living with the family at their residence in Vile Parle.
The official further claimed that the trouble started when the victim who has a daughter, delivered a second premature girl child who died later. She said that the Chavan family wanting a male child could be a possible reason for harassment.
As per reports, the victim has also demanded her valuables from the Chavan family on several occasions but she hasn’t received them yet.
The police summoned and recorded the statements of the Chavan family after the FIR was registered. The family denied allegations and said that the victim wasn’t interested in staying with the family and wanted to go back to her father.
No arrested has been made in this case so far. Vidya Chavan asserted that her son asked the victim for divorce with mutual understanding but instead she went to the police station to lodge a complaint.
The MLC claimed that her daughter in law was cheating her her son while having multiple extra-marital affairs. “My son, who is an engineer by profession, got married around 10 years back. Now, he has a seven-year-old daughter and we are taking care of her. Last year, she was supposed to go to Denmark with my son. One day, her WhatsApp stopped working and my son took her mobile phone for repair. Once the phone got repaired, he checked her messages and found that she was having affairs with four men. On December 7, my son revealed to me everything and said she has cheated on him. He canceled his plan to go to Denmark with his wife and daughter,” she alleged.
