A 17-year-old prodigy who recently became a doctor in the United States has been accused of engaging in one of India's most backward traditions: persecuting a woman in a dispute over a dowry.
On Monday, police arrested Balmurali Ambati and three members of his family on a complaint filed by his older brother's wife that she was harassed by them for not paying a promised dowry.She says the family had locked her in a room of her New York City apartment and allowed her to return to India with them on a visit only after she signed a document agreeing to a divorce.
Balmurali and his family denied the accusations.
Jayakrishna Ambati's wife, Archana, told police in the state of Karnataka that she tried to commit suicide twice because of what happened when her family couldn't pay the $12,000 it had promised before her June 6 wedding.
In the male-dominated nation of India, most marriages are still arranged by parents who often promise large dowries of cash and goods to win their daughter a groom.
That sometimes leads to post-wedding disputes between a bride and her in-laws. Some brides commit suicide during such arguments; others are set afire with kerosene.
The two Ambati brothers, both doctors in the United States, and their parents were arrested in the town of Vishakapatnam in Andhra Pradesh state as they came out of a hotel where Balmurali had just given a speech on medical ethics.
He was being honored by a local group in his home state for having made it into the Guinness Book of Records for becoming the world's youngest medical doctor in May.