: For almost a year now, Raj, a security guard, had been seeing Manju come to the boutique in Anand Niketan, where she was employed. Raj said, on Wednesday, he noticed Manju on the road outside the boutique, getting into an argument with her husband Manoj inside their car.
Raj said he saw Manoj pull Manju’s hair. Raj said he was initially hesitant to intervene in a matter between a married couple but knew he had to act when he saw Manoj pull out a knife from under his seat.
“As soon as he began stabbing her, I began shouting for help,” said Raj, adding that his cries for help did not stop the brutal assault. “I picked up a brick and hurled it at the man, hoping that it would stop him,” said Raj.
The brick, however, missed Manoj and drove away with a bleeding Manju. Raj said he ran after the car and continued trying to raise an alarm. Some policemen in a passing PCR van notice the commotion, intercepted the car and nabbed Manoj.
Manju’s death, meanwhile, has left her two children devastated. Vartika [30] and her 22-year-old brother, Dhawal, said that over the years, they had been doing everything to prevent their “abusive” father from harassing their mother. They accused their father of excessive drinking and assaulting their mother for “no reason”. “We had been witnessing his abusive behaviour since childhood. Mother did not end the relationship so that our future would not be affected,” said Vartika.
“Today my father offered to drop my mother at work. But given his behaviour, we did not want that and had advised my mother to take a cab. But my father insisted and this is what he ended up doing to her,” added Vartika.
“Manju’s children have been unable to come to terms with the fact that their mother died such a horrific death when they had been doing everything to prevent their father from beating her,” said a senior police officer. The incident has also left Raj in shock. “He was crying till sometime ago. He has been unable to cope with what he witnessed,” said a policeman who spent time consoling the guard.
As soon as he began stabbing her, I began shouting for help...I picked up a brick and hurled it at the man, hoping that it would stop him
