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If prosecutors are to be believed, 26-year-old Sai Maddi of Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey, has allegedly been biting his wife to punish her for 'being bad'.
On June 4, when the 23-year-old wife of Maddi was admitted to hospital in a serious condition after being allegedly beaten up by Maddi, doctors found as many as 30 bite marks all over her body, including some on her face.
"It's a strange kind of behaviour and the worst example of domestic violence I have ever seen in my career," Morris County Prosecutor John B Dangler, told India Abroad, referring to Maddi who has since been held on a $ 150,000 bail bond on charges of aggravated assault.
According to the prosecutors, Maddi, who returned to New York from India after his arranged marriage in February this year, allegedly kicked his wife several times, and hit her with a baseball baton on June 4 which doctors later found fractured of ten of her vertebrae.
After Maddi left for work, the battered wife called 911 (the emergency police number) for help. When police arrived, they found that she was having trouble walking and had injuries all over her body, the prosecutors said. She was rushed to Morristown Memorial hospital, where she is still in a serious condition, Dangler said.
News reports quoted assistant prosecutor Marcy McMann as saying that emergency room doctors believed that Maddi's wife was lucky that she was still alive after the beatings. She said that to protect the woman, Maddi's family has been asked to stay away from her.
A report in the Star-Ledger newspaper said that the woman had been denied food for a week and Maddi beat her after she tried to sneak some food. On June 4, it said, Maddi became very angry because his wife tried to sneak food that he had asked her not to eat, it said.
On two earlier occasions, the reports said, Maddi had heated a spoon and burned her with it.
Maddi was arrested after he went to the local police station looking for his wife, apparently after hearing that the police came to his home.
Dangler said that the husband demanded to reclaim his 'property' at the police station. "You have my property and give it back to me," Maddi allegedly told police officials alluding to his wife, Dangler said.
Police, however, arrested him on the spot.
Dangler told India Abroad that in view of the gravity of the crime, prosecutors were considering upgrading the charges to attempted murder. "We are seriously looking into upgrading charges," he said.
Asked what could have prompted him to do what he allegedly did, Dangler could not give a clear answer. "I don't know if it was (something to do with) the arranged marriage. We are looking into it (the motive)," he said.
McMann, according to reports, said that Maddi has admitted to biting the woman and told police that she was bad. "He bites her as punishment for being bad," she was quoted as saying. McMann could not be reached for further comments.
It was not clear why Maddi considered her bad. The Star Ledger report said that Maddi's family declined to comment after the arrest or to comment on the case.
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