The Kerala government has issued a circular demanding all-male government employee to sign and submit a “no-dowry declaration” within one month of marriage. The move is an attempt to strengthen the implementation of the Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 and lessen dowry cases in the state.
The very circular was issued by the Women and Child Development Department on July 16, 2021. According to it, the form additionally needs to be signed by the wife, father, and father-in-law of the employee. Having done that, the form is to be submitted to the heads of all departments, including private, autonomous, and other institutions that have been directed to obtain the declaration.
The State Women and Child Development Director, who is also the Chief Dowry Prohibition Officer as per the Kerala Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Rules, 2021, has asked the heads to properly obtain and maintain declarations from government employees, confirming that they have “not asked for, taken, or exhorted the receipt of dowry”. They have also been asked to compile and maintain a report on all declarations that are received by employees, and submit the report every six months before April 10 and October 10 every year. This report is to be submitted to the District Dowry Prohibition Officer (District Women and Child Development Officer) of each concerned district. The District Officer will then submit a report of the departments that have not furnished the declarations before April 15 and October 15. This procedure has been stated as mandatory under the Act and the Rules.
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The government has further planned to observe November 26 as Dowry Prohibition Day, wherein all students in high schools, higher secondary and vocational higher secondary schools, colleges, and other educational institutions in the state will take a pledge to not partake in the taking or giving of dowry during a general assembly at the institution. Kerala’s Governor Arif Mohammad Khan also suggested that students be made to sign bonds when they take admission in any state institution promising to not partake in dowry.
“Universities cannot and should not allow dear degrees to be used as a license to increase the price of a bridegroom in the marriage market… universities have every right to ask the person who is going to get the degree to sign a bond. And it is not extra-legal. This (dowry) is a punishable crime. It is demeaning to the university if the degree given by it is used to demand more dowry,” he said last month. He also added that the signing of the bond should be extended to parents as well and that the same rule could be applied for appointments for university jobs.
The circular follows various horrific dowry-related incidents in the past few weeks in Kerala. Vismaya V Nair, a final year student of Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery, was found dead at her in-law’s house on June 22. Two other women— Archana (24 years old) and Suchitra (19 years old) allegedly died of suicide in Kerala as well; all three women died of the same reason— harassment by the groom and his family over insufficient dowry.