A young woman was allegedly set on fire by her husband in front of their son after years of abuse over her dowry.
Nikki Bhati, 28, was allegedly doused with a flammable liquid and set on fire at her home in Greater Noida, near Delhi, India on Aug 21 in an incident that was filmed and shared on social media.
In one video, Vipin Bhati, her husband, and his mother were filmed allegedly assaulting and dragging her by her hair.
In another video, Mrs Bhati, who had severe burns, was filmed staggering down a staircase before collapsing. She was transported to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, where she died.
Police arrested Mr Bhati and three other members of his family, including his mother Daya, father Satyavir and brother Rohit, who is married to Mrs Bhati’s sister Kanchan.
Officers later shot Mr Bhati in the leg as he allegedly tried to flee police custody.
Speaking to local media from hospital, he denied killing his wife and said that “husband and wife often have fights”.
Mrs Bhati and her sister, who recently opened a beauty parlour, married Mr Bhati and Rohit Bhati in 2016 in what relatives described as a “lavish wedding”.
Gifts included an SUV, Royal Enfield motorbike, gold, and cash as dowry payment, which is paid by the bride’s family to the groom as part of a marriage arrangement. But their demands kept escalating, according to Nikki’s family.
“They kept asking for more money, first a car, then our Mercedes,” Bhikari Singh, her father, told The Telegraph.
“When I refused, they would beat her. They wanted another 3.6m rupees (£34,000). They killed my daughter because we would not pay more money.”
Kanchan Bhati, who witnessed the assault, said she was also beaten when she tried to intervene.
“I saw my sister burning before my eyes,” she said, alleging: “I heard his mother shouting, ‘Kill her, finish it’.”
Nikki’s six-year-old son reportedly told relatives: “They slapped mumma and then set her on fire with a lighter.”
Police confirmed they had arrested Mr Bhati on suspicion of murder.
“We have arrested four people, including Vipin for burning his wife alive. They are facing murder charges,” police chief Dharmendra Shukla told The Telegraph.
The killing has triggered protests and outrage on social media, with demonstrators in Delhi and Noida carrying placards reading “Justice for Nikki” and demanding the death penalty for her killers.
“Instead of giving daughters their rightful share of property, families pour money into weddings, and dowries, almost like paying ransom, hoping their daughters will be kept safe,” said Karuna Nundy, a Supreme Court lawyer.
“The kind of man who demands dowry is often the kind who will also humiliate, beat or even kill his wife or allow his parents to do so.
“Dowry laws are rarely enforced properly. Rather than punishing abuse and protecting women, the authorities dismiss cases altogether, leaving women without safety or shelter.”
Dowries, both giving and accepting, have been illegal in India since 1961, but 90 per cent of Indian marriages still involve them, according to a recent study.
Data show that 35,493 brides were killed in India between 2017 and 2022 for bringing in insufficient dowry – an average of nearly 20 women per day.
Campaigners say the true toll is higher, as many families avoid reporting crimes for fear of stigma or retribution.
Two days before Nikki was killed, police in Modinagar, Uttar Pradesh, found the body of 27-year-old Shivani Khivalia at her home, with her throat slit and multiple injuries. Her husband and in-laws fled after the killing.
Her brother Pankaj Khivalia alleged that his sister was tortured multiple times by her husband and in-laws.
“We already paid Rs 10 lakh (£9,400) as dowry, yet the demands escalated. Her husband tortured her and asked for more money,” he said. “She was harassed mentally and physically until she was killed.”
On July 28, another young bride, 25-year-old Lakshmi Kumari, was allegedly murdered by her husband before her body was thrown into a river in Bihar.
Her father, Satyadev Sah, said he had paid Rs 2 lakh (£1,900) after persistent pressure but could not meet the full demand of Rs 5 lakh (£4,750).
“That morning Lakshmi called me,” he recalled. “By evening, I was told her body had been found floating two kilometres from her home.”
“In India, marriages remain transactional across every class and dowry has become the unspoken rule,” said Ranjana Kumari, the director of the Centre for Social Research in Delhi.
“There is a greed for easy money and it’s a curse, one that destroys the lives of daughters-in-law and even corrodes the lives of sons.”
“Although the law criminalises both giving and taking dowry, not a single case has punished those who give, leaving the system lopsided.”