Indian man arrested for chopping off wife’s hand fearing she would leave him after getting job

Woman is learning to write with her left hand and is determined not to give up

An Indian man in the eastern state of West Bengal was arrested after he allegedly chopped off his wife’s right hand in an attempt to stop her from taking up a job at a government hospital which could require her to move cities.

Sher Mohammed Sheikh, 26, a resident of West Bengal’s East Burdwan district, along with his two friends, chopped off his wife Renu Khatun’s (23) hand while she was sleeping early on Sunday morning, reported The Telegraph.

Police said that Ms Khatun is receiving care in a hospital in Durgapur where she is in a stable condition.

“Preliminary investigations have revealed that Sheikh did not want Khatun to take up the job fearing that she could be posted in a different city,” an official at Ketugram police station, where the complaint was lodged, told The Hindustan Times.

“The accused first put a pillow on her face to muffle her screams and then chopped off her right hand,” the official said citing the complaint filed by Khatun’s father Azizul Haque.

The weapon used in the attack is yet to be recovered.

Mr Sheikh reportedly took his wife to a hospital and fled with the other two accomplices.

Katwa police said on Tuesday evening that Mr Sheikh who had been absconding along with accomplices was arrested while his parents were arrested that same morning.

The couple got married in 2017, her family members said.

Ms Khatun has a diploma in nursing from Kolkata in 2018. Subsequently she worked at a private hospital in Durgapur as a nurse.

Police said that along with his parents, Mr Sheikh, who ran a small grocery store, objected to her working and often tortured her.

“She got married in 2017 and life has been difficult for her at her in-laws’ place from the very beginning.... The torture increased manifold when Renu informed her husband recently that she has got a government job as a nurse and she can be posted in anywhere across the state as per the job condition,” her elder brother Ripon Sheikh was quoted as saying.

On Monday, reports said that Ms Khatun is determined to get back up on her feet and is learning to write with her left hand.

“I refuse to give up. I will not stop,” she was quoted as saying to the Times of India.

She also demanded that state chief minister Mamata Banerjee consider her case and offer her a government job.

A four-member delegation of the state women’s rights commission met her on Monday at the hospital.

“We have appealed to CM Mamata Banerjee to consider her case, on humanitarian grounds, for a government job. She comes from a very poor family,” chairperson of the commission Leena Gangopadhyay said.