Death and initial response

Nazia Khanam, a 30-year-old assistant section officer with the Ministry of Defence, was found dead at her home in the Bharthal village area of Dwarka in southwest Delhi on August 21. Police received a PCR call reporting an alleged suicide at the Sector 23 police station. Reports differ on the exact time of the call — some say 4.21 am, others 4.21 pm — but all accounts agree that officers reached the spot, took the body into possession, informed the sub-divisional magistrate, and shifted it to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital mortuary.

According to police, Khanam was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her rented flat. Her husband, Mohammad Azam Ali Khan, a supply chain manager based in Gurgaon, told investigators that the couple had argued on the night before her death. He said she locked him in one room and herself in another; when he managed to get out with the landlord's help, he found her dead. Some reports say he found her hanging from a window.

The couple had married on April 11 this year, according to Muslim rites and customs. Khanam's family has said she was around three months pregnant at the time of her death. Police have said the pregnancy claim can only be confirmed through the post-mortem examination.

Family allegations and FIR

Initially, Khanam's family members appeared before the executive magistrate on August 21 and submitted written statements without raising suspicion or making allegations against her husband or in-laws, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Kushal Pal Singh said. However, the following day, her parents returned to the SDM with a fresh complaint alleging harassment.

Based on that complaint, police registered an FIR at the Sector 23 police station under Sections 85 (cruelty by a husband or his relatives) and 108 (abetment of suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

According to the FIR, Khanam's father alleged that his daughter had been repeatedly subjected to mental and physical harassment by her husband, mother-in-law Sameen Nisha (also spelled Samimun Nisha), and father-in-law Babar Ali Khan. The complaint alleged she was abused, assaulted, and threatened with eviction or worse, and that she had informed her family about the mistreatment over phone calls.

Khanam's brother, Minhaz, told The Times of India that the harassment and physical assault began in the first month of the marriage. He said the family spent more than Rs 25 lakh on the wedding, including a television, furniture, and a refrigerator, and that at the time of the wedding, the husband demanded a watch costing at least Rs 60,000 and shoes worth Rs 17,000. The family has also alleged dowry demands and physical assault during pregnancy, and has asked that dowry death provisions (Section 80 of the BNS) be added to the FIR.

Khanam's father, Abdul Tawab Khan, has demanded a CBI probe into her death, alleging that she was murdered. The family has also sought videography of the post-mortem and preservation of all evidence, and has reportedly refused to take her body, saying they lack confidence in the local police probe. The family has said they were not shown the room where the incident took place and that her phone was not handed over to them.

Background and investigation

Khanam, a resident of Patna, Bihar, had earlier worked in the Income Tax Department in West Bengal for two years before clearing the SSC CGL examination and joining the Ministry of Defence. Her brother Minhaz described her as the brightest of the siblings, who studied at a government school in their village and later in Muzaffarpur and Patna.

Her brother Shadab said the family was informed of her death around 5 am on August 21 by a call from her father-in-law. Police have said the husband's account of the argument and the locked rooms is part of the investigation, which will also examine statements and evidence from the scene. "Further action will be based on evidence and facts that emerge during the probe," police said.