India
Woman Declared Deceased and Husband Jailed, Found Alive a Decade Later in Jharkhand
In 2014, a man identified a body recovered from a canal in Bihar's Rohtas district as his missing sister, Shakuntala Devi. Shakuntala had reportedly informed her family of harassment by her in-laws over dowry demands. Following a post-mortem and a murder complaint filed by her brother, Shakuntala's husband, Arun Mehta, and other family members faced legal consequences, including imprisonment and the sale of ancestral land.
More than ten years later, Shakuntala Devi has been located alive in Jharkhand. A new case has been registered against her for alleged fraud and criminal conspiracy. Dilip Mehta, Shakuntala's father-in-law, learned approximately two months prior that his daughter-in-law had been seen in a Jharkhand village. Dilip and others subsequently recognized her there. The family then informed Rohtas Superintendent of Police (SP) Raj, who ordered an inquiry. Police traced Shakuntala to Labhari village in Garhwa district, under the Kandi police station's jurisdiction, where she was living as Kanti Devi with a man identified as Rattu Singh. She was subsequently brought back to Rohtas and presented before a court in Sasaram.
Shakuntala married Arun Mehta in 2002, and according to counsel Shahnawaz Ahmed, there were repeated marital disputes. Ahmed stated that Shakuntala left her home in 2014 without informing her family, and her in-laws were unable to locate her. On August 20 of that year, her brother reported her missing to the police. The initial complaint, which invoked Section 498A of the IPC and Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, escalated into a criminal case. Two days after the complaint, a woman's body was discovered in a canal near Khanda village. Shakuntala's brother and a local chowkidar reportedly identified the body as hers, leading to the addition of murder-related provisions based on the brother's statement. Arun, his father Dilip, and his brother Govind Kumar were among those arrested. Arun was jailed and later released on bail.
The Mehta family claims the matter was eventually settled through a compromise, with Shakuntala's family reportedly requesting Rs 8 lakh. Dilip Mehta's ancestral land, approximately three-and-a-half-kattha, was allegedly sold to raise this money. After the compromise, the case concluded, and Shakuntala was presumed dead until Dilip received information suggesting she was alive. The discovery has prompted a re-investigation of the case, with authorities aiming to determine the identity of the body recovered earlier and the circumstances of its identification as Shakuntala's. Police have also initiated proceedings against Shakuntala for allegedly falsely implicating her in-laws and for involvement in fraud and criminal conspiracy.