By Gopal Sony
India is a country of morality and values. The people of India have deep faith in their rituals and traditions but throughout time, some malpractices are taking place among our culture and traditions. The Dowry system is one such malpractice.
The Dowry system in India is malpractice related to marriage in which the family of the bride has to give gifts and/or cash to the bridegroom and his family. Some families give dowry under the pressure of society or the groom’s family and some families give dowry because they think this is the guarantee for their daughter’s happy and peaceful married life. Dowry is patriarchal malpractice. According to government data, one woman dies a dowry death every hour.
Several women are being tortured by their in-laws for dowry. No doubt, the dowry system is a major factor behind domestic violence. Some people don’t even hesitate while killing an innocent girl just to pacify their hunger for money. Some people cross all the limits of humanity and torture the bride with wild cruelty to get more and more dowry.
According to the Indian Penal Code, malpractice of dowry is a punishable offense but the ground reality is miles away from the books of the law. In reality, people openly demand dowry and they don’t care what the law says about dowry or the punishment for it. Well, it’s understandable if this was restricted to uneducated masses but the most miserable thing in the whole scenario is that government servants and highly educated grooms are the most useful assets in the ‘Dowry Market‘. Yes, unfortunately, this is the reality because some greedy people use their son’s job and social reputation to get maximum from the family of the bride as dowry.
The educated and young generation is highly expected to eradicate such ill practices, yet they stay silent when it comes to their family.
Our government has left no stone unturned to abolish these types of evil practices from our society but the Government can’t achieve the target until we, as a good society, don’t give our 100% to stop this illness. This malpractice is a humiliation for the entire humanity and our glorious history.