Riding back home from the Kottarakkara court on that fateful day in December 2022, Aishwarya Ashokan realised that a man was following her on a motorcycle. She recognised the man even with the helmet visor covering his face – Akhil Raj, the estranged abusive husband, who had been sending her threatening messages. Aishwarya took no chances and stopped only when she reached a crowded spot at the Agro junction in Kollam, where shops were plenty and people hung around. But that did not stop him from coming after her, swinging her to the ground, pouring petrol over her and setting her on fire. As she rolled on the ground trying to douse the fire slowly losing consciousness, Aishwarya thought of three faces that made her want to survive the attack: her parents, and her little son.
Timely action of many including the people at Agro Junction, the intervention of a godmother-like advocate and the care of family, friends and colleagues, helped Aishwarya to not only survive the attack but also finish the post-graduation in law she had desired. She began practising at the High Court of Kerala in March 2024.
“Seeing me now, no one would guess that I had survived such an attack but there are still many marks on the body that may take a long time to go away,” says Aishwarya on a Wednesday evening, returning from the court, a job she loves. She is 28 years old now and her six-year-old son is safely with her parents in Kollam. Aishwarya carries a confidence with her that, she says, comes to one who has faced death so close at hand.
Aishwarya was hardly 20 and into her third semester of the Bachelors of Law (LLB) course when her marriage with Akhil was arranged. She had to miss a year when she gave birth to a child, but enrolled again to finish her degree. “The beatings had begun soon after the marriage. I did not understand what brought them on. We’d be sitting happily one minute, and then he’d go to smoke in the bathroom and come back as a different person. Only much later did I realise that he was into drugs,” Aishwarya says.
He tapped her calls, she says, and would harm her more if he heard her telling any of it to her parents. It was only when she went home for her delivery that she could talk freely to her mother. But Aishwarya, like many women brought up on lessons about the sanctity of marriage, did not want to give up and go home and expose her failed marriage. “My father had spent a lot on the wedding, he was in debt even, and I did not want to bother my parents more with my troubles,” she adds. The line of thought that traps a lot of women even today in unhappy or abusive marriages.
But when Akhil began turning towards her little son, she could bear it no longer, Aishwarya says. After yet another abuse that left injuries on her, Aishwarya went with her son to the hospital, taking nothing – not even her phone – with her, and from there her parents took her home. Her son was only 18 months at the time. While recuperating, she began preparing for her LLB exams, determined to clear all the back papers at one go. “I didn't even have my books with me, I borrowed them from friends,” she says, her voice cracking. She cleared all her backlogs, graduated the course and joined a PG course.
Aishwarya hoped for a normal life when she took up quarters with a few women in Kochi and attended classes for the PG. But she had to often go to court in Kottarakkara for hearings and one of the first things she did while returning home was to file a case under the Domestic Violence Act. “I still had hope, and I thought things might change for the better. So I chose the DV Act, and did not file for a divorce,” she says.
During the time of her PG, Akhil would make derogatory posts about her on social media, send threatening messages to her and even message her friends after taking their contacts from her phone (the one she’d left behind). She had ignored it, until that day in December 2022, when after a court hearing, he followed her on his motorbike, to attack her.
“He never came for the hearings, it was only his parents who did. So I did not expect him there. But there he was chasing me. After stopping my scooter at Agro, I bent down to take the chilly powder that I had kept with me, just in case. But at that moment, he sprayed pepper on my face, and threw me down. I was blinded and covered my face, but could sense that petrol was being poured on my body. People were trying to stop him but he pushed all of them away, empowered by the face-covering helmet that he thought would protect his identity. Even when he lit the fire my brain was working fast and I rolled on the ground.”
She suffered 40% burns in the attack, a couple of others who tried to save her also had burn injuries. From a local taluk hospital, Aishwarya was immediately moved to KIMS in Thiruvananthapuram. The first question she asked the doctors was about her viva – could she take the exam? She was taking the first semester exams of the LLM at the time. “The doctor laughed away my question but for me it was very important. I had already lost a year before. I did not want to lose another. I had prepared for days and badly wanted to take the viva exam. That is when Sandhya madam appeared before me like an angel,” she says.
Advocate J Sandhya, a noted activist-lawyer, had read about the attack on Aishwarya and offered her every help she could. Aishwarya made only one request: please help her take the viva. Sandhya wrote to the Vice Chancellor. A circular was issued treating Aishwarya’s as a special case and allowing her to take the viva online. She took the viva exam despite being in excruciating pain.
Later, a grafting procedure was done to cover up the burn wounds with her skin. The money for the treatment came from a number of well-wishers including advocates, the bar council and others. By March 2023, she pushed herself to go to Kochi and attend college for a month to ensure the minimum attendance, or she’d again lose a year. “My roommates in Kochi were a huge help, they took care of me like a child, for I could do little on my own. My teachers and friends in college were also extremely supportive,” she adds.
After recovery, she did not bother to check on Akhil, but knew that he was arrested on the day of the attack after being caught by people when he tried to flee from the spot. No bail was given for six months, she learned. She filed for a divorce, and the case is still going on. She says she is not afraid of another attack. “Haven't I come face to face with death once? Nothing scares me anymore,” Aishwarya says.
