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Shocking atrocities show women not any safer in Kerala
Women in Kerala may be more educated than their counterparts in the rest of the country but remain as susceptible to atrocities as anywhere else in the country.
- By Akhel MathewCorrespondent
- Published: 23:48 May 30, 2008
Thiruvananthapuram: Women in Kerala may be more educated than their counterparts in the rest of the country but remain as susceptible to atrocities as anywhere else in the country.
Recent reports about crimes against women have shocked the state, to say the least.
In a case widely reported in the local media, a man in Kozhikode district got a 16-year-old boy to sexually assault his wife and captured the images on a mobile camera. The woman, a mother of four, has reportedly complained to the police in Marad against her husband Harshad (35) and the youth who abused her.
According to the woman, her husband had been tormenting her for the past several months for a divorce and the attempt to frame her with the camera footage was part of the plan.
Earlier this week, a woman who committed suicide by jumping in front of a train in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram with her one-year-old daughter, left hints to suggest that she was being tortured by her husband and in-laws. The woman was identified as Asha S. Nair, from Kazhakoottam.
Her relatives have complained to the police about her husband, Puthenveettil Suresh Kumar. The two had been married for two years and relatives said there had been demands from the husband's family for more dowry.
In another case in the state capital, Sarita (27) burnt to death after her husband threw a lighted match-stick at her as she threatened suicide after dousing herself with kerosene.
Sarita and her husband Bhajan Lal had a tiff on May 22 and she had poured kerosene on herself in a fit of rage. Lal's family had admitted her to hospital, claiming that she had suffered burns in a kitchen accident. When she briefly regained consciousness, Sarita revealed the truth to a magistrate.
As her last wish, Sarita had asked to see her one-year-old son, but she died before the child could be brought to her bedside.
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