Wife's midnight prayers land husband in jail

HYDERABAD: Extra-marital affairs, domestic violence and dowry issues are the kind of complaints that normally flood police stations.

But a rather strange case has come up before the Saroornagar women's police station, wherein a man named Govindaraju accused his wife, Durga, of disturbing his sleep at midnight by singing 'halleluah' and she in turn charged him with harassing her!

As is the procedure, Govindaraju was arrested and an investigation launched into the role of his mother Annapurna and sister Aruna. According to the police, Durga was married to Govindaraju on January 20, 2008 in Yadagirigutta.

Though Durga was a Christian, the elders of both the families agreed to perform the marriage as per Hindu tradition.

At the time of their marriage, Durga's parents gave Rs 75,000 in cash and three tola gold ornaments to Govindaraju, an attender at the Zilla Parishand High School. Soon, the couple were blessed with a baby boy.

However, the honeymoon did not last long and over the last one year, things began to fall apart.

'Durga used to wake up in the dead of the night and start reading the Bible. I had no problems with this. But she would suddenly start yelling and this was disturbing. She would also start crying loudly,' Govindaraju told the police.

The couple used to fight often over this and many a time, the 29-year-old woman would leave for her parents' house at PNT Colony, Saroornagar only to return again.

'I would ask her to accompany me to temples but she always refused. Instead, she began harassing me to convert to Christianity,' Govindaraju alleged. It is said that even Govindaraju's mother and sister used to fight with Durga over the late night happenings.

Even as frequent fights were going on, Durga recently walked into the Saroornagar women's police station. 'She alleged harassment by her husband, mother-in-law and sister-in-law,' said Hymavathi, a woman police constable.

A case under Section 498 A (harassment) was registered against Govindaraju, Annapurna and Aruna. Asked whether Durga alleged either dowry harassment or anything in particular, the woman police official replied in the negative.

'She just told us that he is not taking proper care of her and the child and was not giving money. We investigated and arrested him,' she said adding that Durga was a Christian who had converted to Hinduism and got married.