Divya was told by Cheran’s parents that all they wanted was a great daughter-in-law like her. Like any other woman who would’ve been swept off by those words, she and her family were in absolute agreement with the match. Elan’s family had denied dowry during the initial time of wedding preparations as well.
Elan was a well-settled doctor which excited the family further.But as the wedding date neared, things started changing dramatically. Elan Cheran’s family started making demands, and though they were a little taken aback, Divya’s family agreed to give them what they wanted, for the sake of their daughter’s future.
They gave Elan Cheran’s family 100 sovereigns of gold, Rs 15 lakh for a car, Rs 30 lakh cash and 5 kg of silver as a dowry, Divya’s brother Prekumar says. “But Elan Cheran’s mother was not happy with it,” he adds.
However, this wasn’t the first time the deceased or her family had opened up about the issue. In an interview with the News Minute, the concerned police officer dealing with the case says, “Earlier, Divya’s family had gone to panchayat with this issue, and both the families had reached a compromise.”
“About a year ago, her mother-in-law had fought with her saying that she did not do household chores properly, and her father-in-law hit her for that. She was scared to go back home, yet, we told her to go back,” Premkumar says.
“She had a three-year-old child, and she had to take care of him,” he adds.
“I thought, slowly, everything will be fine,” he says.
Well, we wish every family that gets into marrying their daughters realize and sense the danger much earlier. After losing a loved one, it just becomes too late.
Now four years later, Indira admits that her biggest regret is sending her only daughter back to her harassers. She says, “The only mistake we did was to send her back to her in-laws’ house. I want to tell all parents that they should never send their daughters back if they tell them about any dowry harassment.”
The last time Divya had come to her parents’ home was two days before she was allegedly killed. This time she had arrived with her husband Elan and son.
“One month before the murder, her husband’s family treated her very well. They pretended that everything was fine. They did not want us to have any doubts. If I had known that they will murder her, I would have never sent her back. She herself would not have gone back,” laments Indira.
On July 17, Divya’s father-in-law and two other men allegedly hit her and suffocated her to death using a pillow. The father-in-law had allegedly confessed to the crime, telling the police that his wife and he had wanted their son to get married again so they could get more dowry.