Woman burns effigies of husband, in-laws to mark 'Ravana Dahan' in UP's Hamirpur

Instead of burning the effigy of Ravana, a woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Hamirpur district burnt the effigies of her husband and in-laws, who, she said, had kicked her out of the house after she protested against her husband’s alleged ‘extra-marital’ affair.

Lucknow: One may have seen people burning the effigies of Ravana, the demon king, in different parts of the country on the occasion of Dussehra.

But in Uttar Pradesh’s Hamirpur district, about 250 kilometres from here, a woman performed a totally different kind of ‘Ravana Dahan’ (burning of the Ravana effigy).

Instead of burning the effigy of Ravana, the woman burnt the effigies of her husband and in-laws, who, she said, had kicked her out of the house after she protested against her husband’s alleged ‘extra-marital’ affair.

The woman, identified as Priyanka Dixit, a resident of Muskara in the district, burnt the effigies of her husband Sanjeev Dixit and her in-laws on Dussehra (the tenth day of the Navratri festival) in order to ‘’draw the attention’’ of the society towards people who did not ‘respect’ women.

The matter came to light on Monday after pictures of this unique ‘Ravana Dahan’ went viral on social media platforms.

‘’Such people are also like Ravana as they, too, don’t hesitate to break the social rules,’’ Priyanka, who married Sanjeev 14 years back, said.

She alleged that her husband had been having a ‘live-in’ relationship with another woman. ‘’They threw me out of the house when I protested his relationship,’’ she said.

Priyanka said that by burning their effigies, she tried to send a message to the society that such people should be ‘’socially boycotted’’. ‘’Only then will they get a lesson,’’ she added.