The woman who walked semi-nude on Rajkot roads on Tuesday evening will undergo medical examination. The police believe that 21-year-old Pooja Chauhan took the shocking step as she was mentally unsound, which might have been due to harassment at her husband’s place.
“She appears to be mentally unsound. The police will initiate the procedure for her medical examination,’’ said Gandhigram Police Inspector Sardarsinh Jhala.
Pooja stripped up to her inner clothes on Race Course road and Yagnik Road to protest against the alleged harassment by her husband and in-laws _ and also police inaction. With a baseball bat in hand, she also took a round of the Police Commissioner’s office.
She said she wanted people and police to take notice of her harassment by husband Pratap and in-laws. The police, however, said that Pratap and his father Rupsinh and his sister Hansa had been arrested on Tuesday morning, 10 hours before Pooja staged the drama. Said Commissioner of Police K Nityanandam: “Arrest was made much before the incident in the evening.’’
Pooja’s mother Devuben said her daughter might be mentally upset because of the harassment. “She had been complaining about mental and physical harassment. She had a love marriage with Pratap four years back and the couple have a three-year-old girl child,’’ said Devuben.On Tuesday, the police handed Pooja over to her parents residing in Laxminagar after she refused to stay at Kanta Stri Vikas Gruh, a home for unsupported women.
Nityanandam said that the police met Pooja’s parents, who expressed concern over her mental condition.
“But when Pooja herself refused to saty at Kanta Stri Vikas Gruh, the police gave her custody to the parents,’’ he said. But on Thursday, Pooja along with her daughter moved out of her parents’ home.
“I don’t know where she has gone,’’ said Devuben. She was also not found at her Shastrinagar residence, where she had been living with her daughter for past 12 months.
On Tuesday evening while walking on the streets, Pooja kept on saying: “My in-laws want to marry off their son with someone else. That is why they are harassing me.’’ She also publicly abused the police for ‘’doing nothing’’.
This was the second time that Pooja tried to catch the public attention. Two days prior to that, she poured kerosene on her body and came to the crime branch to make complaints against her in-laws.