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Twenty-four-year-old Vismaya V Nair was found dead at her husband’s Sasthamcotta residence in Kollam district, Kerala, on the morning of Monday, 21 June. She was found hanging inside the bathroom, India Today reported.
Only two days eago, she had messaged her cousin and told him that her husband had brutally beaten her several times over a car he received as part of the wedding dowry. She also shared photos of the injuries on her face, shoulders, and hands, reported The News Minute (TNM).
Vismaya was in her final year, completing her Bachelor’s degree in Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery. She married S Kiran Kumar, an official at the Motor Vehicle Department, in March 2020. It was an arranged marriage.
Her family has registered a complaint with the police that Vismaya was harassed for dowry and murdered, reported TNM. Her father, Thrivrikaman Nair, said that they had given Kumar’s family 100 sovereigns, one acre of land, and a Toyota Yaris car as dowry. However, Kumar wanted to sell the car for cash. They could not give him the cash as they had already taken a loan to buy the car, The Times of India reported.
However, her father learned about the WhatsApp conversations only now, he said. Vismaya would only call her mother, not her father or brother, Vijith, to talk about such matters.
Vismaya’s father and her brother are confident that she would never end her life by suicide, and that she was murdered, The Times of India reported.
The Kerala Women’s Commission has taken a case suo motu on Vismaya’s death, TNM reported.
Kamal further added that since the marriage is yet to complete ten years, it will be a case of dowry harassment even if her death is ruled a suicide.
Rural SP KB Ravi said that a case has been registered under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure – relating to the death of a woman within seven years of her marriage in any circumstances raising a reasonable suspicion that some other person committed an offence in relation to such a woman, TNM reported.
The Station House Officer at Sooranadu has informed that the inquest has been done, and after the post-mortem, more investigations will be conducted, reported TNM. Vismaya’s body has been taken to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College for the autopsy.
Find a list of domestic violence helplines here.
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