Man Sentenced to Death for Locking His Wife in a Room and Setting Her on Fire Over Her Skin Color

A man in Udaipur, India, has been sentenced to death for killing his wife by locking her in a room and setting her on fire because of her skin color.

Kishandas carried out the crime on June 24, 2017, targeting his wife, Lakshmi, because he thought her skin was too dark, according to reporting by the BBC, Hindustan Times, and the Independent.

On the night of the attack, Kishandas gave Lakshmi a liquid he called medicine, saying it would lighten her skin. He applied it to her body. When she complained that it smelled like acid, he used an incense stick to set her on fire and poured the rest of the liquid over her.

Despite trying to escape, Lakshmi was trapped in the room, according to Hindustan Times. Her husband’s family eventually rescued her and took her to the hospital, where she later died from her injuries.

Before her death, Lakshmi told police about the abuse she suffered. She said her husband “routinely taunted her for being dark-skinned” and body-shamed her after their 2016 wedding, according to the BBC.

“It will not be an exaggeration to say that this heart-rending brutal crime was not just against Lakshmi, but it’s a crime against humanity,” Judge Choudhary said in court, per the BBC.

The judge said Kishandas violated his wife’s trust and called pouring the liquid over her an act of “excessive cruelty.” He added that this kind of crime “cannot even be imagined in a healthy and civilized society.”

“A young woman in her early 20s was murdered brutally. She was someone’s sister, someone’s daughter, there were people who loved her. If we don’t save our daughters, then who would?” Public prosecutor Dinesh Paliwal told the BBC about the “historic” decision.

The prosecutor presented evidence from 14 witnesses and 36 documents to show Kishandas “repeatedly taunted” his wife, according to Hindustan Times.

Kishandas’ lawyer, Surendra Kumar Menariya, told the BBC that the death was “accidental” and argued there was not enough evidence. The ruling can be appealed within 30 days.