Kerala Women's Commission To Propose State Govt To Check Dowry Harassment And Expensive Weddings

Kerala Women's Commission on Dowry Harassment: Kerala Women's Commission will be submitting a proposal to the Kerala Government to check dowry harassment and ostentatious weddings.

The proposal will include giving women the rights over the gold and gifts she receives during her wedding and regulating expensive weddings through law.

The move comes after the public outrage over the death of a young woman in her twenties named Vismaya, who lost her life due to alleged dowry harassment. She was found hanging at her in-laws' house in Kollam on Monday, June 21. Her husband was arrested and charged under sections 498A (subjecting a woman to cruelty for dowry) and 304B (dowry death) of IPC. Read more on it here.

Chairperson of the Kerala Women's Commission, M.C. Josephine stated, "Regulating ostentatious weddings and giving bride the rights over the gold and gifts she receives at the time of her wedding are some of the proposals on the anvil to check the menace of dowry harassment and lavish weddings in the State." She added that the commission has consulted legal minds on the possible laws that could be initiated. It will soon be presented before the government for follow-up action.

Though dowry is prohibited by law, the commission has discovered that the society continues with the practice of dowry under various other names. This practice does not seem to be coming to an end despite several incidents of dowry deaths and harassment. Josephine further said that the commission has received several complaints where the husband's family allegedly took possession of the money and gold ornaments the bride received from her parents.

The chairperson emphasised that there should also be a law to regulate expensive weddings in the State. A ceiling for the expenditure has to be maintained and the commission will recommend it on the basis of legal opinion.

Between 2016 and 2020, 66 dowry-related deaths were recorded in Kerala. under the 'crime against women' category according to the data in the State Crime Records Bureau. Under the category 'cruelty by husband or relatives', about 15,140 cases were registered between 2016 and April, 2021, The Hindu cited.