When 24-year-old Vismaya stepped into her marital home in Kerala's Kollam district last year May, she brought a slew of dowry with her, that was gifted to the newlyweds by the bride's father. But she didn't know at that time that she has entered a hell where dowry is more worth than her and as a sequel, Vismaya was brutally tortured by her husband and she had gone through the nightmare for several weeks and at the end, she decides to leave not only from her husband but from the world. 

Vismaya V Nair is an Ayurveda doctor and she was found hanging at her husband Kiran's house in the wee hours of Monday. Her death had showered the lights on what has been a grave social injustice - dowry, which stills dominates and pervasive in the society with many households had engulfed that women are destined to carry dowry when they enter their marital home. The death had immensely shocked the entire country and had risen an alarm for societal introspection.

Vismaya was harassed by her husband and she was found hanging at her husband's residence in Kollam, days after she told her close relatives through WhatsApp that she was tortured by her husband. According to reports, the couple got married in May last year, and Vismaya's father Trivikraman Nair had given a new car costing Rs 11 lakh, 1.25 acre of land, and 100 sovereigns of gold to Kiran as dowry at the time of marriage. 

However, Kiran was unhappy with the dowry and began harassing Vismaya by saying that he needs more. He started to torture her in his residence for several weeks. Kiran went on to assault Vismaya in front of her parents and broken her brother's arm in the altercation. These acts had apparently shown that Kiran loves violence and dowry than his wife. But, her family had sent her back to Kiran and in the place of taking action, the police had initiated a compromise between the couple amid the fact that Kiran is an incessant troublemaker. 

Dowry is a dangerous epidemic than COVID-19 and though we have found a cure to beat COVID-19, we are still fighting with Dowry, not for years but for many decades and the irony is, Dowry lives through us under the guise of tradition which will fulfil the marriage and most of our households are compromising with this tradition without the awareness that they are trading their daughters - marry her and win a pile of gold, cars, land, and properties. In the books of marriage, Dowry occupies most of the chapters and it continues to decide the future of women's marriage as if they are destined only to get married. 

Vismaya's death had shaken the soul of Kerala and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had expressed his grief and told the reporters that the recent dowry deaths were shocking. According to reports, the police on Tuesday had arrested Kiran on charges related to dowry death, a day after Vismaya's suicide. Kiran was an assistant vehicle inspector with the state transport department and the police had booked a case against him under section 304 (B) - dowry death of IPC and arrested him, post which a local court had remanded him in judicial custody. 

The state transport department has suspended him from the service and the state women's panel had also registered a suo motu case and started the probe into the death. The fact is we are revising the act after the incident happens and now, after Vismaya's death, we are talking about the Dowry Prohibition Act that came into effect in 1961. But, the practice still persists and continues to win because our society backs this injustice and waters it. 

Still, there are parents who accept to offer dowry and accept the abuse for their daughters at their marital home with a fractured mind that breaking a marriage and bringing their daughters back to home would spoil their future as they aren't destined to live without marriage. When their daughters come back after facing torture, the parents would convince her and will put her back into the pandora box. As a result, Vismayas will end their life. 

While Vismaya reported about the torture, her parents have sent her back to Kiran's house and the police had come to do a compromise between the couple. How it will work out when you are living in hell? She has told some of her relatives through WhatsApp that she was tortured by her husband and after incessant tortures, Vismaya has taken an extreme step of ending her life. A victim is being victimized. We speak about Vismaya's death today but at the end of the day, Dowry wins through Kirans.