A man in India has been sentenced to death for setting his wife on fire following continuous humiliation related to her skin color. The individual, identified as Kishandas, habitually mocked his partner, Lakshmi, for her dark complexion, as revealed in statements before her tragic demise. District Judge Rahul Choudhary imposed the death penalty, categorizing the gruesome act as exceptionally rare and a crime against humanity.
Hailing from the village of Navaniya, the man murdered his wife in Udaipur on June 24, 2017. Despite his legal team’s claims of innocence, they plan to challenge the verdict, which gained significant attention in a society where color bias remains deeply ingrained.
Lakshmi had previously disclosed that her husband derogatorily called her “kali,” meaning dark-skinned, and frequently body-shamed her. The couple wed in 2016. On the fateful night of her demise eight years ago, Kishandas allegedly brought a bottle of brown liquid, falsely claiming it would lighten her skin. Subsequently, he doused her with the liquid, ignited her with an incense stick, and poured the remainder over her as she caught fire. He then fled the scene, leaving her family to discover the horrifying incident and rush her to the hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.
Judge Choudhary, in his ruling, described the act as a heinous crime not just against Lakshmi but against all of humanity, deeming it inconceivable in a civilized society. The verdict is pending confirmation by the high court, with a 30-day window for appeal. Public prosecutor Dinesh Paliwal lauded the ruling as historic, hoping it would serve as a deterrent to others.
Expressing concern for the victim, Paliwal stated, “A young woman in her early 20s was brutally murdered – she was someone’s sister, someone’s daughter, beloved by many. If we do not protect our daughters, who will?” Meanwhile, Kishandas’s lawyer, Surendra Kumar Menariya, maintained that the woman’s death was accidental, alleging false charges against his client.
Colorism, a type of bias favoring lighter-skinned individuals of the same ethnic group, persists in India. The country’s escalating issue of violence against women and girls has raised alarms, with recent data indicating that one in three women may have experienced abuse at the hands of an intimate partner.