On Friday, The Kerala High Court declined to grant bail to Kiran Kumar, the husband of Vismaya V Nair and the prime accused in the Vismaya dowry death case.
Vismaya v Nair, a 24-year-old Ayurveda Medical student, allegedly died by committing suicide in June 2021, within 13 months of her marriage to Kiran Kumar due to domestic violence and dowry harassment. Kiran Kumar, the husband of the victim who is an assistant motor vehicle inspector, was subsequently dismissed from service and has been booked for subjecting a woman to cruelty for dowry and also for dowry death under Sections 498A and 304B of the Indian Penal Code.
The audio messages and pictures that the victim had sent to her relatives through WhatsApp concerning the torture she faced by her husband for dowry acted as the major digital evidence in the charge sheet.
She had allegedly suffered several injuries due to the physical abuse by Kumar and his family due to dissatisfaction over the “gifts” given to them at the wedding.
While early reports suggested suicide, it was later investigated to be a potential homicide.
The accused had filed a bail application because it is just a minor family dispute which has been blown out of proportion. He had also argued that according to the post-mortem report, the only bodily injury on the victim’s body was a minor scratch on her wrist and nothing else. The bail plea was rejected by the Single judge bench consisting of Justice MR Anitha by stating that the crime committed by him is heinous and grave and is also a social evil.
The death of Vismaya had sparked outrage across the state of Kerala and had renewed the discussion that dowry-related harassment, abuse and death is still prevalent in the State. Leaders of all parties, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, had strongly condemned the incident and had also released a statement calling for reforms to rid the society of the dowry system.
