A young woman in Andhra Pradesh, who was engaged to a man in a match arranged by her family against her wishes, allegedly slit his throat after taking him to an isolated place near her hometown in Anakapalle district. The man, Ramunaidu, who bled severely after the incident, was admitted to a hospital and is now recovering. The incident occurred near Kommalapudi village of Butchayyapeta mandal in Anakapalle district. The police have registered a case against the woman under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), arrested her and sent her to judicial remand.
According to the police, in their preliminary investigation, the woman confessed to the crime and said that she attacked the man because she didn’t want to be married. “She said she wanted to remain single, like women who live at ashrams and spend their lives in service of god. She said she wanted to live peacefully and didn’t want to get married. She said she didn’t know what else to do,” DSP (Deputy Superintendent of Police) Sunil Kumar told the media. He added that the woman was also afraid of expressing her reluctance towards the wedding to Ramunaidu or her own parents, fearing their reaction, and hence resorted to attacking him. “She was depressed after the incident, as she didn't foresee the consequences,” the DSP said.
Twenty-eight-year old Ramunaidu, who works as a research scholar in CSIR (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research), Hyderabad, hails from Visakhapatnam district. Recently on April 4, he was engaged to the woman in a match arranged by their families. He told the media that they first met in November last year, and it was recently decided that their wedding would take place on May 29. When he visited Visakhapatnam recently to attend a friend’s wedding, the woman, who belonged to Ravikamatham, invited him to her village, asking him to meet her, police said.
When he went to meet her on Monday, April 18, she said she wanted him to meet her friends and took him to a hilltop on a two-wheeler, Ramunaidu said. “She said her friends wanted to meet me and took me out. On the way, she said she wanted to buy a gift, stopped on the way and bought something. I didn’t ask what it was. She then took me to the hilltop where there was no one else. She told me her friends were bringing a cake and would arrive in five minutes. In the meantime, she said she wanted to gift me something and told me to close my eyes,” Ramunaidu said.
He said that when he hesitated, she tied her dupatta over his eyes. “By the time I removed it to see what was happening, she had already slit my throat. It was only then, that she told me she didn’t want the wedding,” Ramunaidu said. He also told the media that before the incident, it never seemed to him that she was reluctant to marry him.
DSP Sunil Kumar told the media that the woman had bought a knife on their way to the hilltop next to Vishwa Santhi Jyothirmayi Ashram near Kommalapudi, where she allegedly slit his throat. Ramunaidu then tied the dupatta around the injury, while the woman began to cry, saying she didn’t want the marriage and was now scared and was having suicidal thoughts, police said. Ramunaidu then took the woman along with him on the scooter down the hill, and stopped midway as he felt dizzy because of the bleeding. Passersby then noticed and took him to the hospital, the DSP said.
After she allegedly slit his throat, Ramunaidu said he called 108 but was unable to describe his location properly as he was unfamiliar with the area. He said he then called his relatives, and then started to go down the hill on the two-wheeler before passersby helped him. A doctor from the hospital where he was admitted told TV9 that there were no deep cuts, but because of superficial veins being cut, there was severe bleeding. “The muscles and arteries were intact. Around 30 sutures were required,” he said.