KOCHI: Educationist Indira Rajan blasted the government’s attempt to play down its laid-back approach amid the rise in dowry deaths in Kerala, saying a proactive government would ensure such misfortunes don’t happen again.
She also termed the government’s statement that it received only a few complaints when regional dowry prohibition officers started functioning as an “attempt to misguide”, saying it was unfair to calculate the number of cases received by officers in just 13 days.
“The Dowry Prohibition Act came into existence in 1961. The fact that the government chose to appoint the officers only when we moved the High Court shows it was sleeping on its job as far as dowry and related deaths are concerned,” she told TNIE.
Indira, who’s also the secretary-general of National Council of CBSE Schools, said the movement against dowry should begin from schools – not just awareness but also making it part of the school curricula.
“Going by reports, Kerala has witnessed 66 dowry deaths and 15,143 cases of harassment over dowry in the past five years. If these cases are the ones recorded, those that went unreported will be at least 10 times more,” she said. “Most of the steps were taken by government only after I filed the petition,” she said.