13 Sep 09 ‘Harassed by bahu’, 105-yr-old leads 60 of family on dharna

Rajkot : This one could well turn the scripts of the teary saas-bahu TV serials on their head. A 105-year-old patriarch of a Rajkot joint family is on a hunger strike against its own daughter-in-law — with some 60 members of his joint family in tow — outside their home in Mahudi gav.The family’s estranged bahu, they claim, has been harassing them to no end and there was no other way to get it to stop.From the 105-year-old Arjan to five-year-old Abhay, these 60-odd members of the Thummar family have been holding their dharna in the scorching heat for two days now. They claim Rekha, Arjan’s daughter-in-law, has been a source of constant harassment.

Estranged for over a decade now, Arjan’s grandson, 30-year-old Shantilal, says his wife has been harassing his extended family including his father and his five brothers and their children.

Rekha, 28, on her part, claims it is the husband’s family that has been mentally and physically harassing her.

Rekha married Shantilal in 1996, and after the relationship collapsed, she has filed as many as five police cases under different sections against various members of the husband’s family. These cases were registered with police stations in as different places as Junagadh, Dhoraji, Jamkandorna, Jetput and Jamanagar between 1999 and 2004. The Thammars say the family was being harassed by the police and lawyers all these years, claiming Rekha had a “good rapport” with the cops.

Arjan says he is on an indefinite fast. “I won’t eat until justice is done to us.”

The Thummars have submitted a memorandum to the Rajkot Commissioner of Police. While the Malaviya Nagar police station has begun investigating the complaint, the Thummars maintain they want immediate action against the policemen and lawyers.

“The cops keep trooping into our home every now and then, harassing and even threatening the family members,” a family member claimed.

After the relationship fell through, Rekha has been receiving Rs 3,500 as alimony every month from Shantilal over the past five years. However, she claims that her belongings are still with the in-laws. Rekha and Shantilal have two children, a son (5) and a daughter (7). Both are in Shantilal’s custody.