Even as the extra sessions court in Kerala’s Kollam prepares to rule on Vismaya’s alleged dowry killing on Monday, an audio recording has emerged in which she is allegedly heard telling her father that ‘she is terrified of being beaten up’. On June 21, 2021, Vismaya, an Ayurvedic medicine student, was found dead at her husband Kirankumar’s residence.
In the video, a woman identified as Vismaya can be heard warning that if she is left alone, she ‘may do something’. She is also heard stating, ‘I want to come back’ and ‘I can’t remain there anymore’. Vismaya’s relatives said that her husband Kirankumar abused her for dowry after her death. He was a motor vehicle department official. After a departmental investigation, he was fired. He was arrested following her death and is currently being held on bail.
Kirankumar was charged under Indian Penal Code sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 498 a (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 306 (abettment of suicide), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (1) (criminal intimidation), and sections 3, 4 of the dowry prohibition act. According to the prosecution, Vismaya was abused by her husband for dowry beginning on the ninth day of their marriage. Prosecutor Mohan Raj stated that they had proof of torture in the form of Whatsapp conversations and photographs sent by Vismaya to her relatives the day before her death. They interrogated 42 witnesses.
Her father informed a TV broadcaster that 100 sovereigns of gold (equivalent to 8 kilos of gold) and nearly one acre of land, as well as a car worth Rs 10 lakh, were presented to Kumar as dowry for their 2020 wedding. Kumar, on the other hand, did not like the automobile and demanded Rs 10 lakh in cash. According to the father, he used to beat her since he was informed it was not possible. Vismaya, according to the defence, was upset. They also claimed that the audio samples could not be used as evidence.
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