Women’s panel calls for vigilance against fraud perpetrated through matrimonial sites

The district-level adalat of the Kerala Women’s Commission in progress at the district panchayat hall at Kakkanad on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: H. VIBHU

KOCHI: The Kerala Women’s Commission has called for vigilance against fraud perpetrated through matrimonial sites.

Complaints about women being exploited through matrimonial sites are being increasingly reported with the Commission. Regulation and monitoring were essential to check the trend, said members Indira Raveendran and V.R. Mahilamony at a two-day district adalat that got under way at Kakkanad on Thursday.

Addiction to alcohol and drugs was increasingly creating fissures in families. Often, children end up victims in such cases. They get neglected, and their needs go unfulfilled.

The Commission members called for a concerted fight by society against evils that weakened family ties. Similarly, online relations are also damaging families, besides trapping them in financial frauds.

Complaints regarding property disputes, workplace issues, and family disputes dominated at the adalat.

The Commission took action on a petition from a widow, who was also deaf, claiming rights to husband’s property and demanding the return of ornaments given during the time of marriage. Steps were taken on claims of property rights through the village officer. Negotiations with the husband’s family are in the final stages.

Intervention was also made to ensure uninterrupted pension for a petitioner. A dispute involving the imminent loss of property following non-repayment after pledging it collectively was also resolved. An assurance towards the settlement of the loan was elicited in a conciliatory discussion between the property owner and parties who pledged it.

The Commission observed that complaints about aged parents being abandoned by children after getting hold of their properties were being increasingly reported. The tendency to portray wife as being mentally unstable in family disputes was also on the rise, the panel members said.

The hearings got under way with the one organised in Thiruvananthapuram for women in the television industry. Complaints about lack of equal pay, work overload, and absence of even basic facilities were received at the hearing. More such hearings for women in other sectors will be held in the coming days.

The panel had been holding various programmes, including awareness campaigns for helping women. Besides, Jagratha Samithis were active at the local body level. Pre- and post-marital classes were also being held.

On the first day of the adalat, 14 out of the 58 complaints were settled. One complaint was reserved for counselling, and another was despatched for report.