KOCHI: In yet another incident of dowry harassment, a hearing and speech-impaired woman was allegedly tortured by her husband and family in Aluva here. The accused Jismon, 30, and the 24-year-old girl got married on October 18 last year and nearly 15 days after the marriage, Jismon and his family started torturing her demanding more dowry saying that her family hid her deformities.
However, according to the girl’s family, Jismon was fully aware of her disabilities, and he and his family now claimed that they decided to marry the girl with deformities hoping to get more dowry. Following the repeated incidents of torture, the girl’s mother lodged a complaint with the Kalady police, based on which the police registered a case against Jismon and his mother Mary, 60, of Vadakkumbhagam, Aluva, under IPC Section 498 A.
“We were looking for an alliance with someone having similar disabilities for our daughter. But Jismon and his family approached us through a marriage broker. Though we told them that she had hearing and speech disabilities, they convinced us that it wasn’t a problem. We promised to raise some money after they demanded more dowry. But things didn’t work out as expected because of the pandemic situation,” said a close relative of the girl.
According to the relative, the girl underwent repeated torture for the past several months and her mother filed the complaint only in the last month. “The probe revealed that the girl was subjected to repeated physical assault by her husband and his family,” said a police officer. The police also strongly opposed the anticipatory bail plea filed by Jismon and his mother before the sessions court.
Based on the police records, the court rejected the bail pleas observing “as it is seen that a hapless girl with physical disabilities was being mercilessly tortured by the accused right from the very inception of her marriage.” A police probe also found that the marriage was fixed after the accused and his relatives consented for the same after having been fully convinced about the disabilities of the girl.