"She looked like a bag of skeletons"
A shocking case has emerged of an Indian woman, named Thushara, aged 27, who was starved by her husband and in-laws and reduced to “a bag of skeletons”.
Police investigating the case say the woman from the Karunagappally in Kerala died due to the starvation imposed on her by her mother-in-law, Geetha Lal, aged 55 and husband, Chandu Lal, aged 30.
Thushara was found unconscious on March 21, 2019, at the in-laws home. She was declared dead on arrival at the local district hospital.
Her cause of death on March 21, 2019, was pneumonia resulting from a lack of nutrition and food. Getting suspicious about Thushara’s death, doctors informed the matter to police.
It was revealed by police that Thushara was only given soaked rice and sugar water for months and not allowed any other kind of food or drink and her weight was only 20kg when she died.
A police official told media:
“She looked like a bag of skeletons with hardly any flesh on her body.”
“She weighed just 20 kg. A detailed inquiry has thrown light to the cruelty.
“Her relatives alleged that the torture was to get more dowry.”
It’s reported that the couple married in 2013 and at the time of the wedding, for the dowry, Thushara’s family gold ornaments and money to the Lal family. They had promised to give Rs 2 lakh later.
Chandu Lal and Geetha Lal were both arrested by police on Friday, March 29, 2019, after police started the investigation after Thushara’s death.
Thushara had been married for six years and her mother told media that her daughter suffered from abuse and torture throughout her marriage.
Vijayalakshmi said they were only allowed to see their daughter only three times since her marriage. She said:
“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.”
Tushara had two children, one aged one-and-a-half and the other aged three. They are both with the in-laws.
Chandu Lal was a welder but also did odd jobs, so money was an issue. Arguments were commonplace in the household.
Neighbours said they had witnessed and heard Thushara being tortured, beaten and abused by her in-laws in their house. They had allegedly filed 27 complaints regarding this but no one took any action.