Pune woman forced to bathe in public in ritual to bear male child; case filed

A man has been booked along with his parents and a 'Tantrik' (godman using spells) for allegedly torturing his wife and forcing her to take bath under a waterfall in full public view as part of a ritual so that she conceives, a Pune police official said on Monday.

They have been booked under Indian Penal Code section 498 (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and relevant sections of Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013, the Bharti Vidyapeeth police official said.

"The couple did not have children. On the advice of the tantrik, the woman was taken to a waterfall in Raigad district and forced to take bath in front of everyone. A probe is underway," he said.

The woman, a police official said, alleged in her complaint that her in-laws have been harassing her since she got married in 2013 for dowry and later for not bearing a male child. She also told in her complaint that she has undergone several black magic rituals.