(If you feel suicidal or know someone in distress, please reach out to them with kindness and call these numbers of local emergency services, helplines, and mental health NGOs.)
When Vismaya V Nair, a flamboyant 23-year-old woman, thought of marriage, she hoped to get a husband with whom she could have long conversations. On 31 May 2020, when she married Kiran Kumar, an assistant motor vehicle inspector at Kerala’s transport department, she was sure she had found the right match.
Though an arranged marriage, Vismaya had chosen Kumar over scores of marriage alliances that had come her way. “They were in love. At least that is what she told us, even before the alliance got fixed through our relatives,” Vijith V Nair, Vismaya’s 27-year-old brother told The Quint.
Vismaya died by alleged suicide on 21 June. She was found hanging in the bathroom of her husband Kiran Kumar’s home in Sasthamkotta, Kollam. Her family has alleged that Kumar had been harassing her for dowry. She was a victim of domestic violence too, they allege. “She was forced to take her life,” her brother said.