Jabalpur, May 1 (PTI) A 22-year-old woman who was set to tie the knot with a school teacher in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur, lodged a complaint against her fiancé and his family after they called off the marriage as her parents failed to fulfil their dowry demand of Rs 11 lakh and a car, police said.
The complaint lodged at the Gohalpur police station, said the woman got engaged to Shailendra Jharia on April 27 and they planned to get married on May 6, an official said on Thursday.
They got engaged at a hotel and during that ceremony, the bride's family gave Rs 2 lakh cash, a gold ring worth Rs 1.25 lakh, and clothes worth Rs 60,000 to the groom's side, the complaint said.
But two days after the engagement, the groom's family demanded Rs 11 lakh cash and a car, threatening to cancel the wedding if the demand was not fulfilled, Gohalpur police station house officer P Marko told PTI.
Terrified by the sudden demand, the bride and her family went to the groom's house to figure out the problem and expressed their inability to fulfil their wish. As a result, the Jharia family refused to go ahead with the wedding. They even threatened to get the groom married to another woman on the same day, he said citing the complaint.
It added that all the wedding arrangements had been made, including advance bookings for the wedding hall, catering, music band and photography, and the wedding invitations had been distributed.
The cancellation of the wedding as a result of the dowry demand caused a severe social humiliation to her and her family, leading to significant emotional and financial distress, Marko said citing the complaint.
Based on her complaint, the police registered a case under the Dowry Prohibition Act against Shailendra Jharia, his parents Bhagwat and Saroj Jharia, and other family members, including his brother and sister, he said, adding that investigation into the case was on.