An Indian man has been sentenced to death for burning his wife alive because of her “dark skin”.

 

According to reports, a court in Udaipur handed death sentence to Kishan Das for pouring a brown-coloured solution on his wife Lakshmi under the pretense that it would make her skin fairer, then setting her on fire back in June 2017.

 

Before her death, Lakshmi recorded statements for the police, doctors and an executive magistrate, saying, “My husband used to constantly taunt me for my dark skin.”

 

Lakshmi told authorities that she married Das in 2016 and that he regularly called her “kali”, which means dark-skinned. On the night of the attack, he handed her a solution, saying the “medicine” would make her skin “beautiful”.

 

When she applied the solution, her body began to burn and Das allegedly poured more liquid on her before setting her on fire and fleeing.

 

Later, Das’s parents and sister took Lakshmi to the hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.

 

The court described Das’s actions as crimes against humanity and sentenced him to death.