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Punjab govt to trim lavish weddings
Vikram Chowdhary
Thursday, January 17, 2008, (Chandigarh)
For many, marriage is an occasion to show off, even force the bride's family to dish out a lavish reception. But this trend may soon undergo a change.
The Punjab government has directed all district police chiefs to crack down on such lavish spending, but only if there's a complaint from the girl's side.
This comes in response to a query from the High Court that was hearing a PIL filed by an advocate, seeking stricter implementation of the Dowry Prohibition Act.
Section 4 A of the Act says:- There should be no display of presents made at the time of marriage in the form of cash, ornaments, clothes or other articles.
- There should not be more than 25 members in a marriage party.
- Any form of shagun, money or gift exceeding the value of 11 rupees in not permitted.
Defaulters may be jailed for 6 months and even fined up to 5000 rupees.
The police say they will act promptly only if there's a complaint.
"No Police is not supposed to take suo motto action, otherwise they will keep on interfering in each and every marriage. There has to be a complaint and that too from girls side," said G D Pandey, ADGP Crime, Punjab Police.
Though lavish weddings are quite common in the state only 25 complaints were registered in the last three years.
The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee has always been in favour of austere weddings and its Delhi unit made an appeal to this effect around five months ago.
In Punjab, wedding is not just tying of knots between two people, but it is also an occasion to show off and outspend.
Police can certainly make a difference but then social awakening is the real solution to this problem.
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