NEW DELHI, Dec 7: The Kerala police have arrested a postgraduate medical student under the abetment to suicide charge and dowry prevention laws after his 26-year old classmate committed suicide earlier this week for cancelling her marriage.
The Kerala health minister Veena George has also ordered a detailed inquiry into the death of Dr Shahana who was pursuing a postgraduate course at the surgery department of Government Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram. The police registered a case against her boyfriend Dr EA Ruwais and detained him. The police said on Thursday that Dr Shahana committed suicide on Monday after her boyfriend refused to marry her because her family could not fulfill dowry demands.
According to local media reports, Dr Shahana’s family comprised her mother and two siblings. Her father, who worked in the Gulf, died two years back. She was in a relationship with Dr EA Ruwais and the two had decided to marry.
Dr Shahana’s family has alleged that Dr Ruwais’ family demanded 150 gold sovereigns, 15 acres of land and a BMW car in dowry. When Dr Shahana’s family said they cannot meet the demand, her boyfriend’s family called off the wedding. This left the young doctor very upset, and she died by suicide, local residents have alleged. A suicide note found at her apartment read, “Everyone wants money only,” the police said.
The health minister has said the state Women and Child Development department has been asked to submit a report on the allegations of dowry demand. The state Minority Commission is also looking into the matter. The panel’s chairperson AA Rasheed has asked the district collector, the city police commissioner and director of medical education to appear before the commission on December 14 and submit a report.
The state women’s commission chairperson P Sathidevi visited Dr Shahana’s home and met the family. Ms Sathidevi said strong steps must be taken if the mental agony caused due to the dowry demand pushed the young doctor to commit suicide.
Dr Shahana’s brother Jasim Nas said he did not want her sister Shahana to marry into a family that demanded dowry. But the 26-year-old doctor was certain that she had chosen a “good man.” Jasim had agreed to support the match, only for his sister’s happiness.
Jasim said it was Ruwais who came to their home with the proposal and said he wanted to marry Shahana. “In November, my mother and I visited their home and met his family. His father was adamant on dowry. I told them that we would give as much as we could, but they were not ready to negotiate,” he said.
Ruwais and Shahana were in a relationship, “but he did not stand by her”, Jasim said. “We were open to the idea of a registry marriage, but Ruwais wanted the dowry demanded by his parents. He backed out,” he said, adding that these developments broke her sister emotionally.
Shahana and Ruwais were pursuing their post-graduation at Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram. Ruwais, local media reports said, was a popular student leader on the campus and was on the state committee of the Kerala Medical Post Graduates Association.
(Manas Dasgupta)