Wedding gifts by parents for welfare of daughter not dowry: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court recently ruled that gifts given to a woman during her wedding, without any such demand having been made from the groom's side, cannot be considered dowry [Vishnu R v State of Kerala & Ors.]..Justice MR Anitha delivered the judgment on a petition filed by a husband, in the midst of a separation, challenging an order of a Dowry Prohibition Officer. The Court referred to the provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act and held thus;"So the presents given at the time of marriage to the bride without any demand having made in that behalf and which have been entered in a list maintained in accordance with rules made under this Act will not come within the purview of Section 3(1) which prohibits giving or taking of dowry"..The petition was filed by a man whose wife had initiated proceedings before the nodal officer for dowry case, after their marriage became strained. According to him, after the wedding, the wife's family had deposited all her ornaments in a bank locker under the couple's name, the key to which was with her.It was argued that the District Dowry Prohibition Officer does not have the jurisdiction to entertain the petition, since the allegation made by the wife was that the ornaments which have been given for her well-being have been kept in the bank locker and not yet returned..The Court concurred with the petitioner that the ornaments kept in the locker were given to the wife for her well-being and that such presents given by a family to the daughter at the time of her wedding, without any demand from the husband's family for the same, cannot be construed as dowry.As per the provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act read with the Kerala Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Rules 2021 the Dowry Prohibition Officer only has jurisdiction when dowry has been given to any person other than the woman, the Court said. "It is clear that on receiving a complaint, the District Dowry Prohibition Officer is bound to scrutinise the complaint and find whether it would come within the purview of Sections 2, 3, 6 etc. of the Act and conduct an enquiry to collect evidence from the parties about the genuineness of the complaint and upon such enquiry if it is found that dowry is received by a person other than the women(sic), then only powers under the Act can be exercised by the District Dowry Prohibition Officer," the order stated.In the instant case, the Court found that the officer had not conducted any enquiry into whether the articles claimed to have been dowry were indeed given as dowry to the petitioner-husband. Moreover, even the wife and her family had not claimed that the ornaments were given to the husband upon his demand, the Court observed. .The husband agreed to hand over the gold ornaments in question to his wife, who expressed her willingness to accept the same.The Court set aside the order of the Dowry Prohibition Officer and allowed the petition. .[Read Judgment]