Around 35,000 students along with 3,000 faculty members and staff in 87 institutions under the Kerala state government-established Institute of Human Resources Development (IHRD) will take an anti-dowry pledge on Thursday, December 21. The move comes amid dowry cases witnessing an increase in the state, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
Announcing this, IHRD Director VA Arun Kumar said that the pledge will be administered at 11 am on December 21 at all the campuses and Higher Education Minister R Bindu will do the felicitations. In the run-up to the programme, faculty members will raise the slogan, 'Against Dowry — Choose Honour Through Education' on campuses.
Other participants
Besides elected representatives including MLAs, MPs, district panchayat presidents, local body members, and prominent persons from social and cultural fields will also be present.
To recall, a 26-year-old doctor died by suicide in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram after her boyfriend reportedly refused to marry her as the family failed to fulfil their dowry demands. The woman was identified as Shahana, a PG student in the surgery department of Thiruvananthapuram Medical College.
On Tuesday morning, December 5, Shahana was found dead at her apartment. According to a report by PTI, a purported suicide note was recovered from the apartment in which the victim stated that, "everybody wants money only" — reportedly hinting towards the dowry demanded by her boyfriend’s family.
