Woman attacked for not wearing burqa dies; husband arrested

CHENNAI: A 36-year-old woman attacked with a ladle by her husband last Sunday for not wearing a burqa, succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday morning.

The deceased woman was identified as Syed Ali Fathima. She got married to K Ravikumar alias Umar (37) in October last year and they were staying in Keelkattalai near Madipakkam and were working in a Biryani outlet.

Police investigations revealed that the couple had frequent quarrels since their wedding and Fathima’s mother, Palkees took both of them to her house in Ayanavaram to counsel them about ten days ago and Umar stopped going to work and was abusive towards his wife. The couple moved to a house on Vasantha Garden main road, a few blocks away from Palkees’ house last Saturday (March 9).

According to the complaint filed by Fathima’s mother, her daughter was crying profusely when she visited their home on Saturday evening, and on questioning she found that Umar had verbally abused Fathima for not wearing a burqa while visiting neighbours to distribute sweets after the house warming ceremony. Umar threatened the mother-in-law when she questioned his behaviour, according to the complaint.

Police investigations revealed that the couple argued late into the night and Umar attacked his wife with a ladle in a fit of rage. Later, Umar called one of Fathima’s brothers and informed him that he had attacked Fathima and cut the call around midnight. When the family rushed to the couple’s home, Fathima was found lying on the sofa with blood injuries on her head after which she was taken to Kilpauk Medical College Hospital for treatment. “He had attacked her with a large ladle used for making Biryani,” according to the complaint by Fathima’s mother.

The woman succumbed to her injuries after two days of treatment. Following this, the Ayanavaram Police changed the case to murder. Umar who was already arrested on an attempt to murder was booked for murder and sent for judicial remand.