Vismaya was a victim of domestic violence and dowry harassment
Kerala mourned the death of a young Ayurveda doctor Vismaya V Nair who was a victim of domestic violence and dowry harassment. She was found dead in her husband’s home in Kollam district in Kerala. Though it is alleged that it was a case of suicide, Vismaya’s family has come forward with evidence that she was physically and mentally abused by her husband Kiran Kumar and has accused him of abetting suicide. Before her death, Vismaya had messaged her friends sharing pictures of bruises and admitted that her husband had physically and verbally abused her. She was not permitted to go outside the house or make calls to her family and was continuously harassed in the name of dowry inspite of her father giving her dowry worth 1.5acres of land, 100 sovereigns of gold and a car costing over 10 lakh.
Two years ago, there was a love letter writing competition held at college and Vismaya had written a letter to Kalidas Jayaram hoping that it would go viral and that she would get a chance to meet him but unfortunately it never happened. After her death, her friend shared the letter once again and this time, it reached Kalidas Jayaram. He was deeply moved by it and penned a heartfelt note on his social media page, “Deeply saddened and torn apart to know of Vismaya V Nair and the reasons that led to the devastating consequence. It’s absolutely unacceptable that despite of the literacy rate and access to information and knowledge from all corners of the world, our people are still not becoming mindful of the severity of the crime dowry is and how nerve racking is abuse. Not all scars are always seen and not all wounds always bleed. Just truly concerned and worried about how many more names have to be added to the ever growing list of similar tragedies for us to wake up to reality!! Why is walking out of a toxic abusive space never welcomed and why is the societal stigma always imposed upon the ones going through it and why do we hesitate to embrace them? Why is it so hard for us as an evolved society to just accept how unethical and hideous it is to ask/ encourage/ stay silent to dowry as a custom and how heartless can we be to stay silent to abuse of any kind! Truly hoping that strict amendments are made to existing laws and there are necessary actions taken towards educating and empowering people. Let’s bring back our girls and let’s not reduce them to just another hashtag on social media!”
