Two weeks ago, Kerala reeled under the murder of Uthra, allegedly killed by her husband using a cobra. On Thursday, a woman was allegedly gangraped by her husband and his friends in front of her five-year-old child in Thiruvanthapuram. These are just a few heartwrenching stories of the violence that women have faced within their homes in the state. And the most recent instance comes from Ernakulam, where a domestic violence survivor posted a desperate video on the Facebook group Changathikoottam.
Bini, a 27-year-old woman did not know what else to do when she posted the video narrating her domestic violence ordeal to the Facebook group from a hospital room in Kothamangalam in Ernakulam. With bruises all over her face and tear-filled eyes, she pleaded for help.
The Women’s Commission registered a case on June 3 after seeing the video. An FIR was filed in Kuruppampady Police Station, and Bini’s husband, Joby Kuriakose, has been arrested. However, Bini is still struggling to raise her one-year-old daughter and finding shelter.
Married three-and-a-half years ago, Bini has allegedly been a victim of deceit, mistreatment, dowry harassment and domestic violence from her husband – a native of Perumbavoor – and his family. However, she bore the violence, hoping for her husband to change and so that her daughter could continue to have her father in her life.
However, on May 29, Joby allegedly hit Bini with a stone and beat her until she almost lost consciousness. All this, in the presence of her toddler. After this, Bini called her parents who came to Joby and Bini’s house, and took their daughter to the Kothamangalam Baselious Hospital. Joby was drunk when the violence happened, Bini says, and this was not the first time.
"The match was arranged by the families and we got married in October 2016. After a month, we went for our marriage registration in the panchayat office. It was then that I realised that he is 15 years older than me. He had told me earlier he was just five years elder. I was shocked. I also realised that his claim before marriage of having ownership in the company he worked for was false. He was only a driver cum salesman there. But I was ready to forgive him and live happily," Bini tells TNM.
The couple’s first Christmas fell two months after their wedding, and it is a day Bini says she can never forget.
"He was drunk and that was the first time he beat me. There were bruises all over my body,” she says. “My family came and negotiated with him. I was not able to go back to my family as my father has almost Rs 20 lakh debt. He is a daily wage worker. My brother had met with an accident then and was bedridden. I did not want to burden them further. But now I feel I should have left then itself.”
From then on, the violence became a common occurrence on all the days that Joby drank. Bini was afraid of leaving the marriage as she did not have a job and did not want to burden her parents. She also says that she lost her first pregnancy after her husband kicked and assaulted her.
Later, in May 2019, Bini’s daughter was born. However, the torture continued.
"On May 2 this year, Joby tried to kill me using a knife. I was so scared, and wanted to run away from the house. But May 7 was my baby's first birthday. I thought if I forgive Joby just one more time, at least she will have a father. But at the end of May, he attacked me again, hit me with a stone,” Bini alleges.
Bini says that she still lives in fear because Joby’s family is allegedly well-connected.
“I don't want to trouble my parents. I just want to bring up my child. I have no one to ask for help. I really need a job and a home for shelter,” Bini says.