What happens when women become the accused in a society accustomed to viewing them as victims? A recent spate of spousal killings involving newlywed brides in India has upended social assumptions and sparked debate over gender, justice – and the price of compulsion.
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The latest case – a chilling murder on a honeymoon – has riveted the Indian public. Earlier this month, police in Madhya Pradesh accused 25-year-old Sonam Raghuvanshi of conspiring with her boyfriend to hire assassins and murder her husband Raja Raghuvanshi, 30, while the newlyweds were travelling in the northeastern state of Meghalaya. Their marriage, like most in India, had been arranged.
It was late May when Raja’s decomposed body was found following an extensive search. Investigators allege that Sonam orchestrated the killing. Her father has vehemently denied the claim, accusing authorities of “making up stories” and demanding a federal inquiry.
As the investigation unfolds, the case has become emblematic of what some legal experts describe as a disturbing new trend: wives accused of plotting to kill their husbands, often in concert with lovers from before their marriage.
“The phenomenon of newlywed brides murdering husbands in conspiracy with boyfriends is not entirely unprecedented, but its increased frequency, boldness and brazenness make it a disturbing emerging pattern in recent times,” said Bhargav Baisoya, a lawyer at Jotwani Associates in New Delhi.
The headlines have come in quick succession. In March, a 22-year-old named Pragati, barely two weeks into her arranged marriage in Uttar Pradesh, was accused of collaborating with her boyfriend, Anurag, to hire contract killers to murder her husband, Dilip.
That same month in Meerut, police discovered the remains of former merchant navy officer Saurabh Rajput, his body stuffed inside a cement-filled drum. Investigators allege his wife, Muskan, and her lover, Sahil Shukla, drugged him and then stabbed him to death.
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