Whatever be the truth behind the Nisha Sharma episode, it’s echoes are rebounding from the unlikeliest of places. Police constable Prakash Bunkar, currently posted in Vidisha, has been jailed just a day after his July 8 marriage to Kanta Chandel, allegedly for demanding dowry of Rs 51,000. Today, the constable was released on bail. PAC man ‘kills’ wife Farrukkhabad (UP): Provincial Armed Constabulary cop, Gaurav Kumar Jatav, of Gaisinpur village here, has been arrested by the police for allegedly killing his wife for dowry. Police said the Jatav’s wife, Nisha, died of burns recently under suspicious circumstances. (Agencies) Bunkar admits there was indeed an altercation at this point but it was over her insistence on shaking hands with guests rather than over dowry. Kanta is a first-year B Sc student, who has just cleared the entrance for a course in homoeopathy. Her father Rajaram Chandel, a teacher, says: ‘‘He said he did not want anything but we gave him a motorcycle at the engagement on June 22.’’ ‘‘Just a day before the wedding, he spoke to my son asking how much money we would offer while receiving the baraat. My son told him we would not be giving money. He threatened not to come with the baraat but then apologised later saying the ceremony would go ahead as scheduled.’’ Barely a few hours after the wedding, as the couple was sitting on the stage an altercation broke out. According to Kanta, ‘‘He first objected to my shaking hands with people. I told him I didn’t know he had objections and I would not do so again. He then started criticising the arrangements and began asking for dowry. He threatened to divorce me, saying he had divorced once and would do so again. That was when I found out he had already been married, he had only told me that he had broken off an earlier engagement.’’ Prakash counters: ‘‘I told them from the beginning that I had been divorced. My first wife had run away with her servant and is now married to him. When I saw Kanta shake hands with the guests I told her hamare yahan nahin chalta. Pehle bhi jhel chuka hun, wahan bhi haath milane waali thi (it doesn’t work here. I have suffered earlier, she also shook hands). This was what the fight was about. I never demanded dowry. She has qualified for the homoeopathy course after the engagement and they don’t want to marry her to a constable.’’ The two families negotiated through the night of July 8 but no compromise was reached. Kanta’s father says Prakash remained adamant on the dowry. A complaint was filed yesterday and the constable was taken into custody. Now Kanta says she will pursue her studies. ‘‘He seemed so well-meaning before the marriage but changed colours immediately afterwards. I was so shocked that I fainted. I will live with him. But the damage has been done. My parents have already spent money that would have been of greater use for my studies,’’ she said.
