“If I had been able to go for the interview and had got this job, I would have been on a salary of Rs 20,000 a month. This is the same as my husband’s… Maybe my father-in-law did not want me to earn as much as his son,” said 26-year-old Kajal, seated inside a house in Haryana’s Faridabad.
She has 17 stitches on her head, and eight on her right hand. On 14 March, a 43-second video of Kajal being hit with a brick on her head, allegedly by her father-in-law in Northwest Delhi’s Prem Nagar, went viral.
Kajal had just stepped out of her house to go for a job interview when she was intercepted by her father-in-law. The two got into an argument, and he allegedly hit her with a brick.
As per Kajal’s family, her father-in-law “did not approve of women of the family working outside home and was of suspicious nature.”
A week later, The Quint met her at her parents’ modest two-room house in Faridabad, where she is recuperating from her injuries, and figuring a way forward.
“I will never go back there now,” she said. Her parents – Suman Thakur, a homemaker, and Satya Prakash Thakur, a restaurant worker – agree with her decision, and also encourage it.
An FIR has been filed against her father-in-law Jasmant Singh. A senior police officer told The Quint that he has been apprehended.
While Kajal is at her parents’ home, her husband has returned to his parents’ home.
Kajal – a B.Com graduate, a former saleswoman, and an ex-tuition teacher – talks to The Quint about how her marriage in 2019 thwarted her dreams, and left her with 25 stitches.
Giving Tuitions, Working at Showroom and Going to College: How Her Jobs Gave Her Financial Independence
Kajal, born to Suman and Satya Prakash, was raised in Faridabad along with her younger brother.
“When I was younger, I wanted to become an airhostess… My mother told me to aim to become a pilot instead. She had big dreams for me but we did not have the means for it,” she said.
Seated next to her daughter, Suman Thakur said that she and her husband tried their best to raise their son and daughter in a similar manner. “I am so proud that she is the first woman from our family to go to college,” said the mother.
Kajal got a degree in BCom (Hons) from Delhi University’s School of Open Learning, while working at a car showroom in a backend job.
She also taught neighbourhood children at the time for extra cash.
"I earned Rs 11,000 in my first job, after which I took up another job, where I earned Rs 15,000 a month."Kajal Thakur
A portion of the money went towards sustaining the household, and the rest Kajal liked to spend on clothes and footwear.
“When I would get my salary, I would rush to Faridabad market no. 1… I liked earning so that I could take care of my financial needs, and also contribute at home,” she said.
Kajal alleged that it all changed in 2019 when she got married to Parveen and started living with his parents in Northwest Delhi’s Prem Nagar.
'My Husband's Family Was Narrow-Minded, Women Were Not Allowed to Work'
Kajal’s family claimed that through the years, her in-laws would “taunt and harass” her over dowry.
Her father said, "They have been troubling us for dowry since the wedding. We could not afford what they were asking for..."
Meanwhile, Kajal lamented, “My in-laws are so narrow-minded that they taunted me for my clothes. They do not want women to even sit on the bed, forget going outside the house and working.”
She also claimed that none of the women in her husband’s family worked outside home. “There are hardly any women in the family anyway… In fact, I am the youngest woman in that family. My in-laws expected even basic things such as furniture and appliances to be given to them as dowry,” she said.
Barely months after the wedding, Kajal returned home to her parents, and ended up staying there for two years in fact. “My husband had lost his job at the time and my father-in-law's factory work had come to a halt. They could not sustain the household, so they asked me to leave,” said Kajal.
Back home, Kajal took up a backend worker job at a car showroom that paid her Rs 16,000 a month. This, however, did not go down well with her in-laws.
“My in-laws were not happy with me; they did not want me there. They would keep taunting me and screaming at me," alleged Kajal.
A few months ago, Kajal and her husband moved to a rented house, a few lanes away from her in-laws’ in Prem Nagar after she got “sick and tired of their taunts.”
While her husband was supportive of her taking up the job, Kajal said that he did not put his foot down when his parents objected.
'Was Looking Forward to Getting a Job'
Hours after Kajal was hit with a brick on her head, allegedly by her father-in-law, she received a call from the HR executive of the company that she had an interview with.
“I told them that I was injured and would not be able to take the job prospect ahead. I was so angry at my father-in-law for doing what he did... I was looking forward to getting the job,” she told The Quint.
A senior police officer told The Quint that an FIR was registered under section 308 (culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
“I was supposed to go for the interview that day. At the time, I had gone down to buy medicines from the dispensary. He came out of nowhere and started threatening me. Before I knew it, he had hit me on my head. I do not remember what exactly happened then, my head was spinning. I also fainted for a few minutes,” recalled Kajal.
She also claimed that this was not the first time she had been assaulted, allegedly by her in-laws. “ She claimed:
"My father-in-law and mother-in-law would curse me. They expected me to give them food when he came back from his duty at 1 am, and then wake up at 6 am. I would sleep till 8 am on some days. One day, he hit me because I was not working properly at home."Kajal Thakur
'My Friends Have Supportive In-Laws'
Kajal said that she comes from a fairly progressive background and that “it is on the children to be more progressive that their parents.”
At her husband’s house, her freedom was restricted. She said, “They would never allow me to wear jeans, so I did not even try. They were not even okay with salwar-suits. They wanted me to wear a saree all the time.”
Kajal hopes to work when she recuperates from her injuries, and finds hope in her friends who are working.
“One of my friends got married to someone who earns Rs one lakh per month. She does not have to work to sustain the household but she wanted to work because she did not want to sit at home. Her husband and in-laws supported her,” she said.
“Why did this happen to me?” she asked, as she broke down in front of her mother and a relative who was visiting.
Kajal said that her husband reached out to her regarding their rented apartment. “He asked me to let go of the case... He wants me to stay with him, with the promise that we will go far away but I do not want to go back."
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