If the data provided by the Regional Dowry Prohibition Office (RDPO) is any indication, Kozhikode is one of the few places in the country where there is little or no dowry cases at all.
Going by the RDPO’s figures, the five districts in Malabar have so far registered only 58 dowry cases since its inception in 2004. Even when dowry deaths and bride burning happen across the state, an RTI-based reply from the RDPO claims that no dowry issues have been reported for the past 34 months.
On the contrary, police records clearly show four dowry deaths during the period in Kozhikode alone. The RDPO recorded eight petitions in 2009 and no complaints were recorded in 2010, 2011 and till October 2012, said the RTI reply. According to the RTI information, RDPO has not come across any violation of the provisions under Kerala Dowry Prohibition Rules 1992, which has been superseded by the Dowry Prohibition Rules 2004.
The post of RDP officer has been lying vacant at the Kozhikode office for the last one year.
However, the data sourced from the other two RDPOs in Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram reveal that two and 26 cases were reported this year at these centres respectively.
Meanwhile, the crime statistics published on the official website of the Kerala Police show that this year, 23 dowry deaths occurred in the state till September. In 2011, the number was 15, and 21 deaths were reported each in 2009 and 2010.
Sources with the Social Welfare Department maintained that there is little awareness among people about the Act or the RDPO. More than that, when the Act says that those giving and those accepting dowry can be penalised by up to five years in prison, who is going to complain? “The Kerala Dowry Prohibition Rules, 2004 should be amended,” said Anweshi president K Ajitha. “Those giving dowry should be seen as the victim of the system and not as the perpetrator of the crime.
“For this reason, the rules should be amended to punish those who accept dowry as the real perpetrator,’’ she added.
The post of RDP Officer was created in 2004 under the Kerala Dowry Prohibition Rules, 2004, which superseded the Kerala Dowry Prohibition Rules 1992. It says that a woman or her relative can register a complaint with the RDP Officer. Following this, a notice will be sent to the defendant, who must reply within three days.
The officer can then seek the help of the District Probation Officer to conduct further investigation. A report must be filed by the RDPO within one month of receipt of the petition.