Vismaya Dowry Death: Kerala High Court refuses to suspend 10-year sentence of husband Kiran Kumar

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday refused to suspend the sentence imposed by a trial court on one Kiran Kumar in the sensational dowry death case of his wife, Vismaya. [Kiran Kumar S v State of Kerala].A division bench of Justices Alexander Thomas and Sophy Thomas passed the order."Taking into account the nature of accusation, seriousness of the offence and also its social impact, this is not a fit case warranting suspension of sentence. Moreover, the presumption of innocence goes with the conviction and sentence. There is no patent infirmity in the order of conviction to render it prima facie erroneous. Crl.A.No.1016 of 2022 filed by the prosecution, and Crl.A.(V) No.30 of 2022 filed by the father of the victim for enhancement of the sentence and compensation are pending consideration of this Court. Pending appeal, if the sentence is suspended so as to release the applicant/appellant on bail, it will send a wrong message to the society. For all these reasons, we are not inclined to allow this application. It is made clear that the observations and findings in this order are for the limited purpose of this application only, and it will not in any way affect the contentions to be taken by the applicant/appellant in the above appeals," the order stated..Vismaya, a 24-year-old Ayurveda Medical student, was found hanging from the window of a bathroom in Kumar's house on June 21, 2021.Kumar was booked for charges under Sections 498A (subjecting a woman to cruelty for dowry), 306 (abetment of suicide) and 304B (dowry death) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.Only a few days prior to her death, Vismaya had sent pictures of bruises and wounds on her body to her relatives through WhatsApp claiming that she was being harassed by her husband for dowry. Screenshots of the WhatsApp chat and voice notes sent by her were shared by her family after she was found dead.She had allegedly suffered the injuries due to the physical abuse meted out to her by Kumar and his family due to dissatisfaction over the "gifts" given to them for their wedding.While the early reports alleged suicide, it was later investigated as a potential homicide.In May 2022, a trial court convicted Kiran Kumar for all the offences alleged noting in the judgment which ran to 441 pages, that he had meted out dowry related harassment and abuse to Vismaya throughout the subsistence of their marriage.Additional District and Sessions Judge at Kollam, Sujith KN, awarded the following sentence to Kumar:304B IPC: 10 years imprisonment;306 IPC: 6 years imprisonment, ₹2 lakh fine;498A IPC: 2.5 years imprisonment, ₹50,000 fine;Section 3 Dowry Prohibition Act: 6 years imprisonment, ₹10 lakh fine;Section 4 Dowry Prohibition Act: 1 year imprisonment, ₹5,000 fine;The sentences were to run concurrently which means that Kumar would have to spend only 10 years behind bars. .[Vismaya Dowry Death] "Menace of dowry dashed all her aspirations:" Kerala court's judgment explained.Subsequently, three appeals were filed before the Kerala High Court challenging the trial court's judgment; by Kumar, Vismaya's father and the State government.All three appeals have been tagged and are being considered simultaneously by the High Court. However, it first considered the present application moved by Kumar to suspend his sentence until the appeal is finally disposed of..[Read Order]