THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As many as 1,096 cases of dowry-related harassment cases have been registered with Kerala state women’s commission since 2010, of which a majority have been from Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts.
Thiruvananthapuram accounted for the highest number (447 cases that form 40.78% of the total cases) of dowry-related harassment cases, and 126 (11.5%) cases were registered from Kollam.
Of the total number of cases, 874 (79.74%) have been disposed of by the commission.
Seven southern districts —Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki and Ernakulam— contributed 80% of the total cases registered by the commission (866 cases out of 1,096).
The capital district also tops the total number of cases of domestic violence, as per the commission’s statistics.
As many as 3,476 cases of domestic violence were registered from Thiruvananthapuram since 2010, followed by Kottayam (692) and Kollam (656).
About complaints of harassment of women by their husbands, the capital district is on top again with 176 cases, followed by Ernakulam (45) and Kollam (39).
The Kerala Women’s Commission Act, 1990, was passed in 1995, corresponding to the National Women’s Commission Act.
The commission was constituted to improve the status of women in the state and to inquire into unfair practices affecting women and for matters connected there with.
The commission processes complaints received verbally or in writing, postal mail or online.
It also takes suo moto complaints of issues related to women.
Complaints received relate to various categories of crimes against women such as domestic violence, harassment, dowry-related issues, torture, murder, kidnapping, abduction, complaints against NRI marriages, desertion, bigamy, rape, police harassment, brutality, cruelty by husband, deprivation of rights, gender discrimination, sexual harassment at workplace etc.
The number of cases registered by the commission in 2014 was 6,952.
In 2015, the number dipped to 6255, which slightly increased to 6,400 in 2016 and 6,737 in 2017.
As many as 6,694 cases were registered in 2018.
Number of suo moto cases registered by the commission increased from none in 2014 to one in 2015, three in 2016, 26 in 2017 and 82 in 2018.
However, the number of cases disposed of decreased from 6,907 in 2014 to 2,655 in 2018.