India, Aug. 24 -- Nikki Bhati, 28, was hopeful that "good days will come", while suffering torture by her husband and his family over dowry demands ever since her marriage in 2016 in Greater Noida. Her sister suffered, too, as she was married into the same family in village Sirsa.

On Thursday, the torture escalated.

Nikki's six-year-old son recounted: "Meri mumma ke upar kuch dala, fir unko chanta mara, fir lighter se aag laga di (They poured something on my mother; slapped her and then set her ablaze with a lighter)."

After the murderous assault - she was beaten, dragged, burnt, left to die - Nikki succumbed to her injuries within hours at a hospital in Delhi. Her sister Kanchan managed to partially video-record the assault before she...