Pennia of death for the Indian man who burns a living woman on the color of the skin

This article contains details that some people may find painful.

A court in India granted the death penalty to a man for burning his wife alive on his skin color.

In his statements before his death, Lakshmi had said that her husband Kishandas “had regularly taunt her to have dark skin”.

District judge Rahul Choudhary, in the north of the city of Udaipur, explained the death penalty saying that the murder had fallen into the category of “rarer of the rare” and it was “a crime against humanity”.

Kishandas lawyer told the BBC that his client was innocent and that he would call on the order.

The murder of Lakshmi eight years ago and the judgment, rendered the weekend, made the headlines in a country where the public obsession with colorism is well documented.

The attack on Lakshmi took place on the night of June 24, 2017, according to the court order seen by the BBC.

The judgment quotes the declarations which she made before his death to the police, to doctors and to an executive magistrate.

Lakshmi said that her husband often called her “Kali” or dark skin and the body had been ashamed since their marriage in 2016.

The night of his death, Kishandas had brought a plastic bottle with a brown fluid – he said it was a medication to make his skin more equitable.

According to declarations, he applied the liquid to his body and when she complained that she felt acid, he burned her with a stick of incense. When his body started to burn, he poured the rest of the liquid on her and fled.

Kishandas’ parents and sister took her to the hospital where she died later.

“It will not be an exaggeration to say that this heartbreaking brutal crime was not only against Lakshmi, but it is a crime against humanity,” said judge Choudhary in his order.

Kishandas, he said, “broke his confidence” and showed “excessive cruelty by throwing the remaining liquid” while she was burning.

“It is a crime that shocks the conscience of humanity which cannot even be imagined in a healthy and civilized society,” added order.

The prosecutor, Dinesh Paliwal, described order as “historic” and told the BBC that he hoped that he would act as “a lesson for others in society”.

“A young woman at the beginning of the twenty was murdered brutally. She was someone’s sister’s sister, someone’s daughter, there were people who loved her. If we don’t save our daughters, then who would do it?” He said.

Paliwal said he had sent the order before the high court to confirm the death penalty, but added that the convicted man had 30 days to appeal.

Kishandas’s lawyer, Kumar Menariya will overcome, told the BBC that Lakshmi’s death had been accidental and that there was no evidence against his client who had been falsely charged.

The order of the Udaipur court again highlighted India’s unhealthy preference for fair skin.

Girls and women with darker tones of skin are called derogatory names and face discrimination; And skin lighting products make large companies, earning billions of dollars in profits.

In matrimonial columns, the color of the skin is almost always underlined and the brides with clear skin are more requested.

In the past, the BBC has reported suicide incidents by women who have been mocked by their husband on their “dark complexion”.

In recent years, activists have challenged the widely relaxed idea that doing is better, but they say it is not easy to counter deeply rooted prejudices.

Until it changes, such discriminatory attitudes will continue to ruin life.