The FIR against Shalini, her husband, and their son has been registered under sections 498A, 504, 506 and 34  of the Indian Penal Code. 

Professor Shalini Bharat, who stepped down from the post of Director of Tata Institute of Social Sciences  after completing her term of five years earlier this week, has been booked by the Govandi police in Mumbai on a complaint filed by her daughter-in-law.

The police registered the case on September 18 and have begun an investigation into the matter.

Anshumala Singh (36), the complainant, hails from Lucknow and works as a senior manager in a public sector bank. She got married to Shalini Bharat’s son, Madhav Singh (39), who works as an assistant manager in a private company, in 2013.

Anshumala, in her complaint, said that she married Madhav Singh in 2013 at Taj Jai Mahal Palace in Jaipur, a venue which was chosen at the insistence of Shalini. After marriage, Anshumala lived with her in-laws at their place in Govandi.

As per Anshumala allegations in the FIR, after her marriage, no one at home would talk to her, and all family members would be busy with their respective work. She alleged that as the couple was unable to conceive, her mother-in-law allegedly asked her to get herself medically examined.

After her medical test reports came normal, she insisted that her husband too should get himself examined due to which her mother-in-law got angry with her.

She has also alleged that there was demand for dowry from her husband’s family who also pressured her to stake claim on the property belonging to her mother.

Anshumala subsequently started staying separately in the company’s quarters in Belapur, Navi Mumbai.

In 2020, her husband sent her a court notice for divorce, to which she responded.

She also said that the delay in reporting the matter was due to the Covid-19 lockdown.