Bengaluru woman escapes from abusive husband using 'COVID-19 ambulance', returns after 20 days

Bengaluru, Sep 25: A 28-year-old woman who went missing 'mysteriously' after boarding a 'COVID-19 ambulance' has returned to Bengaluru from Delhi after 20 days.
She told the police that she fled Bengaluru to escape from her abusive husband using the ambulance as a decoy.

"She said that a friend gave her the idea to hire two people and get a private ambulance," police said.

Bommanahalli Police Inspector Ravishankar told TNM that the woman arrived in Bengaluru from New Delhi on 24 September, and gave a statement that she had left on her own will, as an FIR had been registered in the matter.

"She said that a friend of hers gave her the idea to hire two people and get a private ambulance. She said she was scared to live with her husband as he and her brother-in-law were physically abusive. She said that the abuse had been happening for over seven months", said the inspector.

The woman has said that she hired two men from Bihar, paid for renting the ambulance and also bought the PPE kits from her savings.

Notably, an ambulance sent by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMC) had picked her up had caused panic when the woman initially disappeared on September 4.

The woman called the Inspector Ravishankar on September 8 after the news of her mysterious disappearance hit the papers and informed him that she had willingly left home with the help of her friend and that she had no intention of returning as her husband and brother-in-law allegedly abused her.

The police, however, have not filed any case on the husband. "Unless she filed a complaint alleging domestic violence, we can't register an FIR. She has not filed such a complaint yet," Ravishankar added.