‘She weighed just 20 Kg’: Kerala woman starve to death by husband, mother-in-law over dowry

In a bone-chilling incident, a 27-year-old woman was allegedly starved to death by her husband and mother-in-law for dowry in Kerala’s Karunagappally. According to police, the woman survived only on soaked rice and sugar syrup and weighed only 20 kg when she breathed her last at a government hospital in Kollam, police said, quoting the post-mortem report and neighbours.

"She looked like a bag of bones. A detailed inquiry has thrown light on the cruelty she was subjected to. Her relatives alleged that she was tortured for dowry," a police official told news agency PTI. Her husband and mother-in-law have been arrested and remanded Friday, police said.

The alleged torture of the woman came to light in a probe the police conducted after her death. The victim's mother Vijayalakshmi alleged the accused had been torturing her daughter over dowry for the past five years. Since one year they had not allowed the family members to meet her.

"My daughter had suffered gruesome torture. We did not give any police complaint as we feared it would put my daughter's life in danger," she said. The couple married in 2013. The woman had two children.

According to reports, at the time of marriage, the woman's family had given her in-laws some gold ornaments and money. They had promised to give Rs 2 lakh later. The woman's husband used to do odd jobs other than welding work.