Tamil Nadu police have arrested a 28-year-old man and his parents after his wife, Ridhanya, 27, died by suicide on 28 June in Tiruppur district. Investigators say the newly-wed ingested pesticide in her car on the way to a temple, having earlier sent voice messages to her father blaming her husband and in-laws for relentless abuse. The marriage, solemnised on 11 April, involved a dowry that included a Volvo sedan worth about Rs70 lakh and several hundred sovereigns of gold jewellery. According to police and family statements, only part of the promised 500 sovereigns—around 300—had been handed over, and demands for the remainder began less than a fortnight after the wedding. Ridhanya’s messages alleged both physical assault and confinement at home when she resisted further payments. Following a protest by the bride’s family at Avinashi Government Hospital, Cheyur police booked husband Kavin Kumar and his parents, Eswaramoorthy and Chithradevi, on charges of dowry harassment and abetment to suicide. A revenue-divisional inquiry is cataloguing the dowry exchanged, while the three accused have been remanded in judicial custody as the investigation continues. The case has reignited public debate over India’s dowry prohibition law, in force since 1961, and its limited effectiveness in curbing harassment linked to marital payments.