In a grim verdict that echoes the horrors of unchecked dowry abuse, a court in Kerala has sentenced a man and his mother to life behind bars for starving his wife, Thushara, to death. The court ruled that the pair deliberately denied the 30-year-old woman food, medicine, and freedom — turning her own home into a prison and her body into a skeleton.
Kollam’s Additional Sessions Judge S Subash found Chanthulal and his mother Geethalali guilty of murder, dowry death, and wrongful confinement after hearing a trail of devastating evidence. When Thushara died in March 2019, she weighed just 21 kilograms. Emaciated and locked away from the world, her body told the silent story her voice could no longer share.
The court made it clear: this was no accident. It wasn’t neglect. It was a cold, calculated act.
“The evidence shows A1 had the means to provide basic necessities but chose not to. A2, her mother-in-law, stood by in deliberate silence. The deceased was helpless, isolated, and denied every basic human need,” the judgment read.
Thushara had married into the family in December 2013. With the wedding came demands: 20 sovereigns of gold, ₹2 lakh, and later, a forced agreement to transfer land. When her family couldn’t pay up, the price was Thushara’s freedom — and eventually her life. She was fenced in behind tin walls, her world reduced to a locked gate and empty plates.
Following her death, Thushara’s mother filed a police complaint, pointing to the chilling conditions her daughter had endured. Medical reports painted an even bleaker picture: severe dehydration, starvation, and organ failure. Her skeletal body bore the unmistakable marks of prolonged cruelty.
Witness testimonies from family members and medical experts tied the noose tighter around the accused. They spoke of isolation, mental and physical torment, and a household where starvation became a weapon. The court stressed that although there were no direct witnesses to every act of abuse, the mountain of circumstantial evidence left no room for doubt.
“Thushara died of lung consolidation as a complication of starvation. Her body was in a state of extreme emaciation, her internal organs severely underweight,” the court observed.
Both Chanthulal and Geethalali were convicted under multiple charges: murder (Section 302 IPC), dowry death (Section 304B IPC), and wrongful confinement (Section 344 IPC). They received life imprisonment for murder, seven years for dowry death, and two years for wrongful confinement — all to run concurrently.
The third accused, Thushara’s father-in-law, escaped judgment by death during the trial.
In the courtroom, Thushara’s story — once silenced by hunger and fear — was finally heard loud and clear.
