Indian woman's kidney stolen for not meeting dowry demands

Husband and his brother arrested on Monday

An Indian husband along with his family, tricked his wife and got her kidney removed for money,  Hindustan Times reported.

West Bengal police have arrested the 28-year-old woman, Rita Sarkar’s husband and her brother-in-law.  Her family had failed to meet her husband and her in-law's demand for 2 lakh Bengali Rupees in dowry hence they resorted to stealing her kidney, she stated.

Her husband and his family had tortured her for dowry repeatedly throughout the years,  she said. They took advantage of her appendicitis to steal a kidney from her. She has been married for 12 years.



“Around two years ago, I began suffering from an acute stomach ache. My husband took me to a private nursing home in Kolkata, where he and the medical staff told me that I would be fine after removing my inflamed appendix through surgery,” Rita Sarkar stated.

But her pain did not cease. In fact it intensified after the operation.

“My husband warned me not to disclose the surgery in Kolkata to anyone. I begged him to take me to a doctor to treat the pain, but he ignored me.”

Only three months ago when relatives from her parents’ side took her to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital did she find her right kidney was missing.

The news was unbelievable to her so she sought a second opinion at a nursing home in Malda and that confirmed it.



“I then understood why my husband implored me to keep quiet about the surgery. He sold my kidney because my family couldn’t meet his demand for dowry,” she alleged.

She quickly filed a complaint at Farakka police station in northern Bengal against husband, his brother and her mother-in-law.

Her husband and his brother were arrested on Monday, inspector Udayshankar Roy reported.

They have been charged under Section 19 (punishment for commercial dealings in human organs) and Section 21 (offences by companies involved in any such act) of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 498 (detaining a married woman with criminal intent).

“Murshidabad police will raid the Kolkata hospital where the surgery was conducted,” said a senior police officer on the condition of anonymity.

“A special team has been formed to investigate,” said the officer. The police suspects a kidney smuggling gang is behind this crime.

India has firm anti-dowry laws. However, domestic violence and heinous crimes against women are still rampant in society. This crime is higher in rural areas, where daughters are often considered a liability by their families.

This story originally appears on Hindustan Times.