On June 21, the news of the suicide of 24-year-old Vismaya, a final year Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery student in Kerala, broke the internet. The probe into the case revealed that Vismaya was assaulted for dowry by her husband S. Kiran Kumar, an official at the Motor Vehicle Department.
Despite the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, and the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, her father admittedly gave a dowry of 1.2 acres of land, a car worth Rs 10 lakh and 100 sovereigns of gold.
With screenshots of WhatsApp chats where Vismaya opened up about the assaults she faced and images of her injuries being circulated on social media, multiple questions are being raised about why her parents did not take a stand, why Vismaya did not walk out of the marriage and so on.
A day after Vismaya’s death shook the state’s conscience, Kerala was yet again shocked with the news of another young girl, Archana who was allegedly set ablaze while asleep over the same issue.
The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 states: “In this act, `dowry’ means any property or valuable security given or agreed to be given either directly or indirectly by one party to a marriage to the other party to the marriage; or by the parents of either party to a marriage or by any other person, to either party to the marriage or to any other person at or before or any time after the marriage in connection with the marriage of said parties.” This has been fortified with The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. Despite the rigid laws, there are loopholes which have not been resolved.
A look at the statistics of dowry abuse-related deaths in the country paints a disturbing picture. As per the data released by The National Crime Records Bureau, with records only up to the 2019, approximately 21 women die every day across the country with regards to dowry related crimes. Despite having a charge-sheet of 93.7 per cent, only 34.7 per cent of the accused have been convicted. The rest of the cases are still tangled up in court. With an official record of 8,000 dowry deaths a year that rivals no one in the world, India tops the list.
Data released by the Kerala police show that over the course of the last 10 years the number of dowry deaths under (304(B) IPC) has been fluctuating since 2010. With 21 deaths in the years 2009 and 2020, the numbers spiked in 2012 with 32 and went down again the next year to 21 but again mounting up to 28 the year that followed. In 2015, the number dropped to a hopeful 8 but spiked back to 25 in 2016. The years that followed, showed 12 deaths in 2017 and 17 in 2018. In 2019, the numbers dropped down to six and has remained the same in 2020, while this year’s list is yet to be updated. In 2020, the Thushara case and Uthara case shattered the state’s conscience.
Statistics reveal that Thiruvanthapuram Rural has had the highest number of deaths in total with 35 deaths over the last decade with Palakkad, Pathanamthitta and rural Thrissur following behind. Idukki and Ernakulam City, however, has the lowest reported deaths with two in the last 10 years.
Again, these numbers only depict direct deaths as dowry abuse-related suicides fall under a separate category. It also does not cover other harassments which include assault by husband/relatives, marital rape, domestic violence, and the deaths that go unreported.
The Kerala government’s five-year action plan to make the state dowry-free and setting November 26 as Anti-Dowry Day with actor Tovino Thomas as the goodwill ambassador was put into action in 2019. The state even prompted the #stopdowry campaign which received massive social media attention.
