Dowry gifts rot in police godown

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 22

Matrimonial alliances having soured over the past years and the ‘gift items’ which were exchanged between the families of brides and grooms, having become a bone of contention, are rotting in the open at the women’s police station.

Located behind the District Administrative Complex, the police station has a godown to store the gift or dowry items.

However, with the rise in cases of marital disputes, the godown has become too small to accommodate the goods.

Due to the rains, which the region has received over the past few days, the condition of the goods has deteriorated.

If proper care is not taken, the goods will be rendered useless.

SHO of the women’s police station, Sarbjit Kaur, said the goods were piling up despite the police regularly calling the parties to come and collect the goods.

“I joined as the SHO two months ago but these goods have been lying here since long. We have been calling the parties to collect their belongings. In fact, two parties have even confirmed that they would collect their goods tomorrow,” she said.

The SHO added that the parties involved in marital disputes or engaged in dowry cases were not interested in collecting the goods.

“As per the rules, after taking permission from the authorities, the girl’s family can come and stake claim to the goods that they had given to the groom’s family. But we have seen that even the brides’ families are not interested in taking the goods back,” the SHO said.

She said following a matrimonial dispute, if the girl’s family claimed that they had given several goods as dowry, the police recovered the goods from the groom’s house and stocks them at the police station.

Although, the goods are stored till the time the case is not settled, the girl’s family may get them released with the intervention of the court.