KOCHI: The state government submitted before the Kerala HC that the Kerala Law Reforms Commission has proposed a draft amendment to the Dowry Prohibition Act, seeking to decriminalise the act of giving dowry, a landmark legal shift aimed at encouraging victims to report dowry-related abuse.
The draft bill proposes to redefine dowry as property or valuable security taken or demanded by the groom or his relatives from the bride or her family, and recommends imprisonment for such acts, the government informed the court.
Taking note of the submission, the court directed the Centre to clarify its stand on the issue by filing an affidavit. The directive was issued while considering a petition seeking an action-taken report on the implementation of the Act.
The proposed amendment comes in the wake of repeated cases of dowry-linked violence and deaths, where the existing legal framework has often discouraged survivors or their families from lodging complaints.