India, June 5 -- Perhaps not since the murder of 13-year-old Arushi Talwar, who was found dead in her own bedroom in 2008, has India been as fixated with a crime as we are with the death of Twisha Sharma.

There are two reasons for why the death of a former model and actor in her mother-in-law's house has the nation both agitated and riveted.

The first is the resonance hundreds of thousands of women have felt with Twisha's plight - the societal conditioning that continues to inhibit a woman's ability to leave an abusive marriage and the cultural camouflage that disguises and normalises modern-day dowry.

The second reason is the persona of Giribala Singh, the accused mother-in-law and how she has come to represent the impunity of the pow...