A woman has been arrested for abandoning her ailing mother-in-law on the roadside—who died shortly after—in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya. The elderly woman was suffering from cancer, and due to lack of money for treatment, her daughter-in-law and other family members abandoned her in a helpless condition. The woman suffered throughout the night and died in the morning.
This incident occurred on the night of July 23rd outside a furniture shop in Ayodhya. At night, two women and a young man traveling in an e-rickshaw brought an elderly woman and left her outside the shop. They wrapped the woman in a sheet and then left in the rickshaw. In the morning around 8:30 AM, when shopkeeper Ghanshyam Verma came to open his shop, he found the elderly woman unconscious and in critical condition. Police and an ambulance were immediately called.
The woman died while receiving treatment in the hospital.
The elderly woman has been identified as 80-year-old Bhagwati Devi, who was a resident of Gonda district. She had throat cancer and the disease had progressed so much that maggots had formed in her body.
Police have arrested Bhagwati Devi's daughter-in-law Jaya Singh, a neighbouring woman, and a young man in this case. During interrogation, the daughter-in-law revealed that her husband is an alcoholic and doesn't help with household expenses. It had become difficult to get treatment for her mother-in-law, so they decided to abandon her.
A 1-minute 22-second CCTV footage of the incident has surfaced, which clearly shows three people wrapping the elderly woman in a sheet, leaving her on the roadside, and then departing. Even after this, the woman kept moving slightly, but no one came to save her.
Police have taken this matter seriously and registered a case under several sections of the IPC. Ayodhya police say this is not just a crime but the murder of humanity. Medical reports and CCTV footage have been included as evidence in the investigation, and further action is ongoing.
