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Profiles of Single Women and their Struggles |
| SUTRA has collated svereal case studies on the struggles single women face in pursuit of security and sustenance in Himachal Pradesh |
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Chameli Devi
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 Hemlata Devi
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Jai Devi |
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Lata Devi
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Radha Devi |
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Savitri Devi
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Vidya Devi |
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Vinay Mittal
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 Lata Devi
Lata Devi was 18 years old when she got married in 2002. She is from a village called Balki.
After 15 days her in-laws started harassing her. When they started beating her, she went to her sister's house, which is in the same village. Her husband demanded Rs 1,00,000 from her since there had been no dowry given before from her parent's side. First she did not tell her parents that she had left her husband's place to live with her sister, but she did not want to hide it from them any longer. Her relatives then went to the husband's house and they had a fight. Afterwards the police came and arrested
Lata Devi and her relatives, since the husband told the police that they had come and had started the fight.
Lata Devi has filed a case against him where she accuses him of harassment and demanding dowry, on the other hand her husband filed a case against her saying that she sent her relatives to his house to create a fight.
She has a daughter who is four years old and is under her custody. Lata Devi left her husband for the first time four years ago and went back several times but every time He was very abusive. Eventually she left home and got a divorce.
So far her husband has refused to pay any alimony. Thus, she is dependent on her income as a cook in a school.
Today, she lives in her parents' house where there is some land to grow vegetables and gets some additional income.
SUTRA is helping Lata Devi to get her belongings back, because her husband did not allow her to take back what she brought into the household when they got married.
Moreover, SUTRA recently helped her to apply for Mother Teresa fund, which will compensate her with Rs 1000 per year.
She would like to advise people but she thinks no one listens anyway. Her major concerns at the moment, however, are to ensure a good education for her daughter and to get her possessions back. Lata Devi says she would have been happier if she did not even marry in the first place - emotionally she is definitely better off now than when she was married. |
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