Kollam: The additional sessions court in Kerala's Kollam on Monday held S Kiran Kumar guilty for the dowry death of his wife Vismaya V Nair.
The court, which had reserved the judgement in the case for Monday, held the husband guilty under the charges of 304(b), 498(A), 306 IPC and 3,4 of Dowry Prohibition Act.
The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on Tuesday.
Vismaya was an Ayurveda medical student who was found dead at her in-laws' house allegedly of suicide due to dowry harassment and domestic violence in June 2021.
The prosecution had heavily relied on digital evidence to make the case.
During the course of the trial, a total of 42 witnesses, 108 documents and several call records were examined by the court. A 507-page charge sheet was submitted by the police indicating that Vismaya had committed suicide due to dowry harassment.
The prosecution case was fortified after a voice recording, purportedly belonging to Vismaya surfaced a day before the verdict. The audio clip is a phone call between Vismaya and her father where she is heard crying and complaining about the harassment, thereby revealing that she was subjected to severe torture by her husband.
Kiran Kumar was charged under Sections 304 (B), 498 (A), 306, 323 and 506 of IPC for dowry death, inflicting physical or mental harm, abetment of suicide, voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation. He has been convicted under Sections 304 (B), 498 (A) and 306.
Advocate G. Mohanraj was the special public prosecutor (SPP) in the case.
The death happened within a year of their marriage and her husband was thereby arrested a day after the incident came to light. Kiran Kumar, who was an assistant motor vehicle inspector, was also dismissed from service following her death. He was under judicial custody for over a year, and his bail petition was rejected multiple times before he was released.
Several circumstantial pieces of evidence crucial to proving the guilt of her husband were found in the matter. The audio messages she had sent with regard to the torture she had faced at her husband's hands acted as major digital evidence in the charge sheet.
A day before the incident, Vismaya had also sent WhatsApp messages to her relatives over the alleged harassment by Kumar over dowry, along with photos of wounds and marks on her body.
Thereafter, the Sooranadu police registered a case for dowry death and matrimonial cruelty on a complaint filed by Vismaya's parents. The incident had gained massive publicity across the State with prominent personalities coming to the fore condemning the practice of dowry.