Dowry deaths: Two Kerala women and their toddler daughters found dead in UAE within a month

A Special Investigation Team will probe the death of Athulya Shekhar, 30, a woman from Kerala's Kollam district who allegedly died by suicide in Sharjah, the UAE.

The woman was found dead in her apartment along with her 18-month-old daughter in the Rolla area, Sharjah, on Saturday, which also happened to be her birthday and the day she was supposed to start her new job.

 

Her husband, Satheesh Sivasankara Pillai from Karunagappally, Kollam, has been fired from his job as site engineer at a private company in Dubai, Gulf News reported. He was booked for murder by Kerala Police following a complaint lodged by Athulya’s mother, Thulasibhai. Her mother has alleged that he kicked her daughter in the stomach and hit her with a plate, which eventually led to her death. Athulya had approached the Sharjah police in the past with allegations of abuse from her husband.

 

The couple got married in 2014, and police reports say that the abuse began shortly after. The couple has a 10-year-old daughter who lives in Kollam with Athulya’s parents.

 

The bodies of both Athulya and her daughter were discovered by her sister and brother-in-law, who also reside in Sharjah. Her family and friends have claimed that she suffered years of mental and physical abuse due to her husband and his family demanding dowry.

 

Satheesh has maintained that he had no role in her death. But Athulya’s family maintains suspicion that their daughter did not die by suicide.

 

The family also released videos that showed Athulya with injuries and footage of her husband trying to hit her with a stool. Satheesh has admitted to physically assaulting Athulya in the past in a statement to the media.

 

This incident comes less than a month after the death of another Kerala woman and her toddler daughter in the UAE. Vipanchika, 32, and her one-year-old daughter were found dead in her Sharjah apartment on July 8. In a suicide note, the woman said her husband Nitheesh Valiyaveettil, his sister Neethu Benny, and their father Mohanan were responsible for her death. Vipanchika had also named dowry demands and racial abuse from her in-laws as reasons for her suicide.

According to the complaint lodged by Vipanchika's mother, Shyamala, to Kundara Police, she was harassed over dowry and humiliated over her appearance. She also alleged that her granddaughter, Vybhavi, was physically harmed after Vipanchika opposed her husband's relationships with other women.

Police have said that the case was registered under sections 85 (cruelty by a husband or his relatives towards a woman) and 108 (abetment of suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.

India