Crowd remains passive as man sets wife ablaze in public view in Kerala

Public insensitivity to gruesome violence has once again become the talking point in Kerala with a man setting ablaze his wife in front of a crowd at Chengaloor near Puthukkad, Thrissur on Sunday.

Jeethu (29), a Dalit woman from Vellikulangara, suffered 80% burns in the incident and succumbed to her injuries in a hospital on Monday night. Police are on the search for Jeethu's husband Veeraj (39) who has been absconding since the ghastly attack.

The incident occured on Sunday afternoon when Jeethu emerged from a meeting of the neighbourhood group of the Kudumbasree Livelihood Mission at Chengaloor along with her father. She had reached the meeting venue to settle her loan arrears.

According to the police, Veeraj poured petrol over her and set her ablaze even as some 40 people who were present at the meeting were dispersing. None from the crowd, including the panchayat member and Kudumbashree Mission volunteers, tried to stop Veeraj. Only her father and the driver of an autorickshaw, in which she had arrived for the meeting, took her to hospital, allege activists of the Dalit organisation Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha (KPMS). No one from the crowd even cared to inform the police, the KPMS activists said.

Jeethu was first rushed to a private hospital at Chalakudy and later shifted to Thrissur Medial College Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries on Monday night. Veeraj and Jeethu had some marital issues and were planning to get a divorce. They got married six years ago. The police suspect that the marital discord would have led to the attack. The couple has no children. Jeethu was living with her parents in preparation for the separation and they had filed a divorce petition seeking dissolution of the marriage by mutual consent.

Jeethu gave her dying declaration before the local Magistrate. Even as the police are on the search for Veeraj, the KPMS is planning an agitation to press for the immediate arrest of the culprit.

It is alleged that it was a planned murder. The KPMS activists were angry that the people present at the scene did nothing to stop Veeraj from dousing the girl with petrol and setting her ablaze.