Kerala HC refuses to stay sentencing of Vismaya case convict

PTI, Dec 13, 2022, 4:25 PM IST

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The Kerala High Court on Tuesday refused to stay the 10-year sentencing of a former assistant motor vehicle inspector, who was convicted for driving his wife Vismaya to suicide by perpetrating dowry-related cruelties on her.

A division bench of the high court dismissed the petition filed by the convict S Kiran Kumar seeking to stay the sentencing pronounced by a Sessions Court on May 24.

The Sessions Court in Kollam had sentenced him to 10 years for dowry death, six years and two years imprisonment for the offences of abetment to suicide and dowry harassment under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), six years for the offence of taking dowry and one year for demanding dowry under the Dowry Prohibition Act.

However, as the sentences were to be served concurrently, the convict has to serve only the maximum of the jail terms — 10 years.

A total fine of Rs 12.55 lakh was also imposed on Kumar by the court which said that out of the same, Rs 2 lakh be paid to the parents of the victim.

Kumar had on June 30, moved the Kerala High Court saying he was convicted and punished without there being sufficient evidence to prove his guilt.

He then petitioned the court seeking to stay the sentencing till his plea on appeal was decided. The High Court today dismissed the petition.

Kumar, who was an assistant motor vehicle inspector, was dismissed from service after his arrest in the case and State Transport Minister Antony Raju had said that there would be no change in that irrespective of whether the court convicts him or not.

Vismaya (22), an Ayurveda medical student, was found dead in the house of her husband at Sasthamkotta in Kollam district on June 21, 2021. A day before the incident, Vismaya had sent WhatsApp messages to her relatives over the alleged harassment by Kumar over dowry as well as photos of wounds and marks of beatings on her body.

Her father had said 100 sovereigns of gold (one sovereign is equal to 8 grams gold) and over one-acre land, besides a car worth Rs 10 lakh were given as dowry to Kumar during the wedding in 2020.

But Kumar did not like the car and wanted Rs 10 lakh in cash. As he was told it was not possible, he used to torture her, the father had said.