Nodal officer gets over 1,300 plaints from women in 20 days

Thiruvananthapuram: As many as 1,333 complaints have been received in 20 days by R Nishanthini, SP, Pathanamthitta, and state nodal officer appointed to exclusively deal with harassment and dowry-related issues, from women across the state. A majority of the complaints have been received from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha.
Of the 1,333 complaints received from June 24 till July 13 this year, 187 are related to dowry cases and they are being taken up on a priority basis. “At least one-tenth of the cases are related to dowry issues. We are looking into these complaints on a priority basis and are assigning them to women police stations of the concerned district for necessary follow-up action. In districts with no women police stations, these are being handled by the district women’s cell,” Nishanthini said.
The complaints are categorized into three — those relating to dowry, regarding family disputes and those pertaining to violence due to alcohol consumption. “We are holding a periodic review of the complaints and are ensuring that all complainants are contacted from the respective district within 24 hours of registering the complaint,” Nishanthini said. Their statements are being recorded and further action is being taken in coordination with other government organizations set up under the women and child development department, Kudumbashree, etc.
Those seeking counselling are directed to the domestic conflict resolution centre, those who seek shelter are directed to the one-stop centre (under women and child development department) or Snehitha (under Kudumbashree) and those requiring legal help are directed to the district legal services authority.
Government had appointed R Nishanthini as the state nodal officer for probing all complaints relating to dowry. In the wake of the death of a young woman in Kollam allegedly due to dowry issues, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had announced that from June 24, all such complaints will be probed by the nodal officer exclusively appointed for the task, and assisted by a woman sub-inspector. The complaints can be registered at 9497999955.
Earlier, as per Kerala state women’s commission’s data, 1,096 dowry-related harassment cases have been registered with the commission alone since 2010, of which a majority of cases were from Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts. The data showed that seven southern districts — Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki and Ernakulam — contributed 80% of the total cases registered by the commission (866 of 1,096 cases).