Keralites’ infatuation with youths employed in UAE and other West Asian nations have become a thing of the past at least in their search for a suitable match for their daughters. A bridegroom with MBBS degree who is also a card holding member of the CPI-M in Kerala commands a hefty premium in the wedding market if recent developments are any indication.
Dr Shahna, a post graduate student in the prestigious Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram was found dead in her apartment on Tuesday morning. Autopsy revealed that she committed suicide late Monday night following the refusal of her fiancée to marry her as Shahna’s family could not meet the demands of the would be bridegroom.
The bridegroom, Dr Ruwais is a medical doctor in Thiruvananthapuram Medical College and the proposal had been accepted in principle by the families of the bride and her beau. But problems cropped in as Ruwais and his family demanded something more as dowry. They made it known to Dr Shahna, a M S student in surgery that her family should part with 150 sovereigns, a high-end BMW car costing nearly Rs two crore, one acre of prime real estate and cash of Rs two crore (which the parents of Ruwais were willing to bring down to Rs 1.5 crore!).
They told the bride’s family that Dr Ruwais is no ordinary doctor. He was working in the orthopedic department of Medical College as a post graduate doctor and was a senior office bearer of the CPI-M frontal organization, the Post Graduate Doctors Association.
Though the media in Kerala did not disclose the identity of Dr Ruwais for two days, the social media played its part and the mainstream media had to fall in line. Ruwais was suspended from the Orthopedics Department on Friday and he was arrested by the police following a state wide public outcry against the suicide of Dr Shahna.
The deceased had left a suicide note in which it has been mentioned that she was forced to resort to the extreme step following the decision of Ruwais and his family not to go ahead with the marriage as her family was not in a position to meet the demands made by the would-be in-laws.
Ruwais has been remanded to judicial custody till 21 December and has been slapped with charges including prohibition of demanding dowry and abatement to commit suicide. If found guilty, Ruwais may be sentenced to ten years imprisonment.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is on a state wide junket in a bus nicknamed as “Cabinet Bus” that costs Rs 2 crore, told the young ladies in the state to ask the prospective bridegrooms demanding dowry to get lost.
The State of Kerala saw more than a dozen dowry related suicides during the last one year. Shocked over the ever increasing number of such cases, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan made the university students in the State to take an oath that they would not accept dowry or be a part of any marriages which are solemnized because of the exchange of cash and gifts as part of tying the nuptial knots.
