The court asked why there was no appointment made to the posts of Dowry Prohibition Officers (File)
The Kerala High Court on Friday issued notice to the State government on a writ petition seeking amendments and strict implementation of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.
A Bench, headed by Chief Justice S Manikumar, asked the government why the Act were not being implemented strictly.
The court asked why there was no appointment made to the posts of Dowry Prohibition Officers though dowry deaths were being reported frequently.
The petition, filed by Indira Rajan, the CEO of the Vikram Sarabhai Science Foundation, sought a direction to all government servants to furnish a declaration that they have not taken any dowry.
"Dowry is a social stigma causing un-imaginable torture and crime towards women. This evil has taken the lives of numerous innocent women from all strata of society," the petition said.
The lackadaisical attitude of the government and its machineries is the root-cause for this, it said.
It said though Parliament has enacted the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, it could not serve the intended purpose or eradicate dowry, the petition said.
The country has seen 8,391 dowry deaths in 2010 meaning there are 1.4 deaths per 1,00,000 women, it said.
Such deaths account for 40 to 50 per cent of all homicides recorded annually in the country.
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