Washington: A newly married Indian woman, who arrived in the US in March, has been wandering from door to door for the past several weeks to seek justice, accusing her husband of torturing her.
“My husband has left me without any financial support. I have no place to go. My parents in India asked for help from my father-in-law, but he is demanding dowry to bring me back into my husband’s life,” said a woman from Bihar’s Patna in a distress complaint sent to senior Indian government officials. Said Indian embassy here and consulate in San Francisco.
Anamika (name changed) has reached here US State Department, who issued her husband an F-1 student visa and Freddie Mac, where he is temporarily employed on OPT, seeking justice but to no avail.
The abuse and torture reached such an extent that on June 15, police were called to his apartment in McAllen, a Virginia suburb of Washington DC.
“The police helped me get into the cab,” she writes in her complaint.
The local Fairfax County Police has filed a complaint against her husband and is treating it as a criminal complaint.
“I was saved by the police because of his cruelty as my life was in danger,” she told PTI.
“I reached United States of america with my husband March 1, 2021 and began to live with him in McLean, Virginia 22102. On reaching USA, my husband started committing domestic violence on me and demanded dowry from my parents,” wrote Anamika in her complaint, a copy of which is with PTI.
When contacted, her husband who works as a quantitative analysis professional at Freddie Mac, denied the allegations and told PTI that he was being implicated.
However, when asked if he was a student of any university, he immediately hung up. First he said that he is a student of University of Maryland College Campus And then the Baltimore campus, before hanging up the phone.
Anamika alleged in her complaint that her husband, who has now sent her a divorce summons, forced her to keep the washroom door open.
“When I used to go to the washroom, he would allege that you are doing something to prevent pregnancy in the washroom as there was no noise while using the washroom. Then he asked me to keep the door open and use the washroom,” she alleged. “Many times, she has checked my vagina to see if I have used anything to prevent pregnancy. Sometimes he checked it by using his phone’s flashlight and sometimes with his finger and sometimes by wearing gloves. After sex he would yell at me that you were using something to prevent pregnancy.”
Anamika, who is now living with a close relative in Seattle, has also contacted several NGOs, many of which have been tasked with addressing cases of abuse of newly married Indian women in the US by the Indian government in the past. has been funded for. The number of such cases has increased in the last decade, as a result of which a few years ago all Indian diplomatic missions in the US were asked to set up special cells to deal with such cases.
“He never let me go out anywhere alone. I was only allowed into the trash room which was on the same floor as where we lived but without my phone. He used to take me with him even to the mail room. Even though I was not well, he used to force me to accompany him,” she alleged in her complaint.
“One day, he made me kneel on the street to say sorry. He always used to harass me by saying that once you left him or told someone about the torture, he would make my life miserable,” alleged Anamika.
NS South Asia Minorities Coalition Foundation said it plans to take on “abuse of girls” who are married to Indian or S Asian professionals working in the US with relevant authorities in the US, including the State Department. Huh.
“These girls and their families are at the mercy of their husbands while in the United States,” said Puneet Ahluwalia, Executive Director of the South Asia Minorities Coalition.
“My husband has left me without any financial support. I have no place to go. My parents in India asked for help from my father-in-law, but he is demanding dowry to bring me back into my husband’s life,” said a woman from Bihar’s Patna in a distress complaint sent to senior Indian government officials. Said Indian embassy here and consulate in San Francisco.
Anamika (name changed) has reached here US State Department, who issued her husband an F-1 student visa and Freddie Mac, where he is temporarily employed on OPT, seeking justice but to no avail.
The abuse and torture reached such an extent that on June 15, police were called to his apartment in McAllen, a Virginia suburb of Washington DC.
“The police helped me get into the cab,” she writes in her complaint.
The local Fairfax County Police has filed a complaint against her husband and is treating it as a criminal complaint.
“I was saved by the police because of his cruelty as my life was in danger,” she told PTI.
“I reached United States of america with my husband March 1, 2021 and began to live with him in McLean, Virginia 22102. On reaching USA, my husband started committing domestic violence on me and demanded dowry from my parents,” wrote Anamika in her complaint, a copy of which is with PTI.
When contacted, her husband who works as a quantitative analysis professional at Freddie Mac, denied the allegations and told PTI that he was being implicated.
However, when asked if he was a student of any university, he immediately hung up. First he said that he is a student of University of Maryland College Campus And then the Baltimore campus, before hanging up the phone.
Anamika alleged in her complaint that her husband, who has now sent her a divorce summons, forced her to keep the washroom door open.
“When I used to go to the washroom, he would allege that you are doing something to prevent pregnancy in the washroom as there was no noise while using the washroom. Then he asked me to keep the door open and use the washroom,” she alleged. “Many times, she has checked my vagina to see if I have used anything to prevent pregnancy. Sometimes he checked it by using his phone’s flashlight and sometimes with his finger and sometimes by wearing gloves. After sex he would yell at me that you were using something to prevent pregnancy.”
Anamika, who is now living with a close relative in Seattle, has also contacted several NGOs, many of which have been tasked with addressing cases of abuse of newly married Indian women in the US by the Indian government in the past. has been funded for. The number of such cases has increased in the last decade, as a result of which a few years ago all Indian diplomatic missions in the US were asked to set up special cells to deal with such cases.
“He never let me go out anywhere alone. I was only allowed into the trash room which was on the same floor as where we lived but without my phone. He used to take me with him even to the mail room. Even though I was not well, he used to force me to accompany him,” she alleged in her complaint.
“One day, he made me kneel on the street to say sorry. He always used to harass me by saying that once you left him or told someone about the torture, he would make my life miserable,” alleged Anamika.
NS South Asia Minorities Coalition Foundation said it plans to take on “abuse of girls” who are married to Indian or S Asian professionals working in the US with relevant authorities in the US, including the State Department. Huh.
“These girls and their families are at the mercy of their husbands while in the United States,” said Puneet Ahluwalia, Executive Director of the South Asia Minorities Coalition.
.