Kerala HC upholds sentence in Vismaya dowry suicide case

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday refused to suspend the sentence imposed by a trial court in the sensational Vismaya dowry suicide case in which the principal accused is her husband, a state government employee Kiran Kumar.

Vismaya, a 24-year-old Ayurveda Medical student, was found hanging from the window of a bathroom in Kumar's house on June 21, 2021.

Kumar was booked for charges under Sections 498A (subjecting a woman to cruelty for dowry), 306 (abetment of suicide) and 304B (dowry death) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.

Incidentally, only a few days prior to her death, Vismaya had sent pictures of bruises and wounds on her body to her relatives through WhatsApp claiming that she was being harassed by her husband for dowry.

Screenshots of the WhatsApp chat and voice notes sent by her were shared by her family after she was found dead.

She had allegedly suffered the injuries due to the physical abuse meted out to her by Kumar and his family due to dissatisfaction over the "gifts" given to them for their wedding.

Following the suicide, there was a huge public outcry and Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan paid a visit to the grieving parents and after that he, as chancellor of the Universities, directed a pledge be taken by all students at the time of convocation that no dowry would be taken or given.

In May, a trial court convicted Kumar for all the offences and noted in the judgment which ran to 441 pages, that he had meted out dowry-related harassment and abuse to Vismaya and sentenced him to 10 years in jail.

Following the conviction, Kumar who worked as an official in the Motor Vehicles department was dismissed from service.