NEW DELHI, April 28: Twenty-five-year-old Sonia Dhingra, a resident of Harinagar in West Delhi, is battling for survival in the burns ward of Safdarjung hospital. She was allegedly set afire by her in-laws this morning in what is believed to be a dowry related incident.The police say that as the girl is yet to give a statement, it is difficult to establish whether she was set afire by her in-laws. Preliminary investigations have, however, ruled out the possibility of an accident.The area SDM refused to disclose any details on the probe, saying that he had to conform to official procedure. A severely burnt Sonia - she has sustained 65 per cent burns - was brought to the hospital by her in-laws around 11 a.m. But her relatives suspect foul play because they were informed about the incident four hours later.Sonia was married to Raju Dhingra, son of a Harinagar businessman, two years ago. Raju is the youngest of the three brothers in the Dhingra family who own a shop in the area. Raju, however, has noother source of income.Sonia's relatives say that the marriage took place after the Dhingras promised a comfortable life for Sonia. A year later, when Sonia complained that she was being repeatedly harassed for insufficient dowry, her parents realised that they had been misled.They also discovered that Raju depended on his elder brothers, even for his rations. After Sonia gave birth to a daughter last year, the torture from her in-laws reportedly increased. Vinay Sehgal, who is Sonia's cousin, claims: ``She had come to her parents' house last year and had stayed for six months. But she was forced to return when they threatened to take away her child.''
