This is the story of 23-year-old Anshu Singh, who on
January 25, 2010, was murdered by her husband and
in-laws just 45 days after her wedding.
Her story is a grim testimony to the fact that dowry
related extortions and murders occur even among the
wealthy, educated, and professional sections of Indian
society.
And among these criminals are officers of law enforce-
ment! This case is ongoing, and we are in touch with
Mr. Girendra Singh, Anshu’s father who had approach-
ed the 50MM for support. This is our flickr discussion
and update forum for Anshu’s case.
Do add your comments and suggestions if you have any.
As the Singh family presses on for the conviction of
Anshu’s killers they are being subject to all kinds of
harassment.
If you are in Delhi and can be of any help to Mr. Singh’s
case, please contact him directly or contact us. Anshu
was the middle girl among three sisters.
She was bright, ambitious, and well educated. At the time
of her murder she was working for a multi-national corpo-
ration in Delhi.
She had met her husband through work, and they had been
dating for 3 years before they got married. Initially there
was some objection to their getting married from the man’s
family because they were from different communities.
But Anshu’s father said, “If the two of them are in love,
why should we come in the way?” However prior to the
wedding Mr. Singh had informed the groom’s family that
though he did not intend to give them any dowry, he wanted
to gift his daughter some household items, just as he had
his older daughter, to ensure she had a comfortable start
to her marriage.
The groom’s family indicated that they would prefer he gave
them the cash so they could buy the items themselves. Their
list of purchases kept growing and eventually Mr. Singh
ended up giving them Rs. 3.5 lakhs (just under $9,000.00) .
When Mr. Singh asked for the receipts to ensure that they
were purchasing what they said they were, they had no
receipts to show. Some unpleasantness then ensued, and
Anshu began to feel uncomfortable about the wedding.
Mr. Singh thought, “The money does not matter. Let it go.
What is more important is that perhaps this is not the right
man for Anshu.”
However the groom’s family convinced Anshu that it was
all a misunderstanding, and Mr. Singh conceded to his
daughter’s wishes.
After the wedding however, they started pressuring Mr.
Singh for dowry almost right away. The in-laws constantly
talked about needing money for this or that, and expecting
Anshu to somehow provide the cash.
At one point they directly demanded a sum of Rs. 5 lakhs
( $12,500/-) for their younger son’s education. They also
wanted money for the father-in-law’s promotion and posting
to another state.
The father-in-law is in the police and in this other post he
would earn more, but to get the promotion he had to bribe
his seniors.
Mr. Singh began to realize that for these people it was all
about money and greed.
Anshu and her husband had rented a separate flat but
every evening, after work, they would go to her in-laws
house and have their dinner there.
Anshu would do the cooking and help with the housework
in the evenings and on weekends. The couple would return
to their flat to only to sleep at night.
It was a strange arrangement that was insisted on by the
husband and in-laws.
Four weeks into the marriage when the money demands
refused to abate, Anshu did not want her father to be
worried or burdened anymore.
So without telling him she started taking out loans herself
to pay her in-laws. She could manage these loans since
she was a professional with a good job at an MNC, and
her in-laws were aware of that.
Her husband also became abusive. Initially he was verbally
abusive, but soon he began to also periodically hit out at her.
When Mr. Singh found out he was very upset, and wanted
her to leave, but he says, “I talked to Anshu. She was a
strong girl and she assured me that it was going to be o.k.
She would take care of the situation.” The day before Anshu
died, on January 25, 2010, she sent one last sms to her sister.
She wrote “Shivank (her husband) has changed completely
after marriage. He is not the person he was before. He is not
a good person.”
Whatever that happened that day is probably very critical to
understanding the cause of Anshu’s murder.
Many questions remain unanswered. What event had suddenly
prompted her to decide that her husband has changed? If she
was now convinced that he was not a “good person,” had she
already made plans to leave him, and had she told him so?
If she divorced her husband she could very well demand that
they return the thousands of dollars that they had extorted
from her already, and the family certainly wouldn’t want to
pay up.
It is believed that when Anshu returned from work on that
fateful evening, she first went to her own flat. The duplicate
key to that flat which her husband had, was probably the
one used by the goons hired to assault and kill her.
It is believed that there may have been 2-3 people involved.
Mr. Singh says that the autopsy reports show that Anshu
was violently assaulted, and that the cause of death was
“ASPHYXIA due to antemortem hanging.”
Possibly the intention was to stage suicide by hanging. But
the husband and in-laws, later that evening decided otherwise,
and they took her down and lay her on the bed.
They then called Mr. Singh and informed him that Anshu was
unwell and may have fainted. Mr. Singh came right away and
he knew immediately that she had been dead for quite some
time.
The Singh family was shocked. Their daughter had been
married for barely a month!
A traumatized Mr. Singh says, “It all happened so fast. Only
45 days that she was married and she was gone. We never
thought something like this can happen to us.
Anshu was a young, bright, modern girl with so many dreams.
She was intelligent and strong. I don’t think even she ever
thought that something like this can happen to her.
” Currently, Anshu’s husband is under arrest pending trial.
Her in-laws are all absconding. Anshu’s father-in-law was in
the police. Due to pressure from him the police investigating
Anshu’s murder were very slack in their probing.
They did not even bother to cordon off the suspected crime
scene. With the police failing to gather evidence properly,
the fear is that Anshu will not get justice in court.
Every 20 minutes, a young married woman in India, like
Anshu, falls prey to cold-blood, premeditated gang-murder
by her own husband and in-laws.
This is a crime that is now out of control! The 50 Million
Missing Campaign wants to ensure that Anshu’s story
stays alive in our hearts and minds so justice is done, and
she does not become another nameless victim in that
lineup of thousands of young Indian women who have
died similarly.
We will circulate her link periodically, and we request you
to do the same. Please help keep Anshu’s story alive.
Source: GENDER EQUAL BLOG,
A BLOG ON INDIA'S GENDERCIDE
The 50 Million Missing is a global campaign to stop
the ongoing female gendercide in India.
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