Mumbai Crime News: Woman Alleges ₹4.75 Crore Dowry Harassment; Husband, In-Laws Booked Under BNS

Mumbai: A woman has filed a complaint with the Dindoshi police alleging sustained physical and mental harassment over dowry, despite her family giving jewellery worth ₹4.75 crore at the time of her wedding. The police have registered a case against her husband and his parents.

The complainant, 35-year-old Shrunkhala Jain (née Shrunkhala Kanodia), stated in her FIR that she married Harshvardhan Jain in 2021. Her father bore all wedding expenses and gifted jewellery amounting to nearly ₹4.75 crore. After the wedding, Shrunkhala moved to Mahalaxmi to live with her husband and in-laws. However, she claims they began pressuring her for more dowry and subjected her to repeated mental and physical abuse.

According to Shrunkhala, her in-laws insisted that expensive gifts be sent by her parents on every festival. Even during her pregnancy, she was allegedly denied proper nutrition and continued to face harassment. Her in-laws reportedly desired a male child, and after the birth of a daughter, they expressed displeasure and treated her even worse. She was not allowed to use debit or credit cards, and her jewellery—the same ₹4.75 crore worth of streedhan—was allegedly taken and retained by her mother-in-law.

Based on her complaint, Dindoshi Police have registered an FIR against her husband Harshvardhan Jain, mother-in-law Nirmala Jain, and father-in-law Narendra Jain under Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, and Sections 115(2), 3(5), 316(2), 351(2), and 85 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Growing Cases of Dowry Harassment

Although India’s Dowry Prohibition Act has been in place for over 50 years, the social evil of dowry continues to persist. The issue of domestic violence and dowry-related abuse has come under renewed scrutiny following the death of Vaishnavi Hagawane in Pune. In Mumbai alone, one to two cases of dowry-related domestic abuse are reported daily. In 2024, a total of 438 FIRs were registered for dowry harassment. Between January and April 2025 alone, 163 cases have already been filed. In 2024, 11 women died by suicide due to dowry-related harassment.