The dowry system has been followed in India for a very long time now. The system refers to the transfer of durable goods, cash and real or movable property from the bride’s family gives to the groom’s parents and his relatives as a condition of the marriage. Dowry includes the nature of payment in cash or kind given to the groom’s family along with the bride. This often includes a transfer of cash, vehicles, furniture, jewellery, crockery, utensils and other household items etc.
The dowry system started even before the British period. The idea behind the dowry system was to maintain the woman’s independence after marriage and give her gifts or cash and land etc. Dowry is also referred to as dahez in Arabic. But when the British came to India, they restricted women to own any property. Women were not allowed to buy any property or land. Hence, men started owning all the ‘gifts’ given to the bride by her parents, causing a mess to the dowry system.
Now, the dowry system is creating many problems in our society. Poor families do not get any groom for their daughter unless they agree to a large dowry. Parents have to take loans for their daughter’s marriage. The dowry system can put a great financial burden on the bride’s family. This is one of the reasons that lead to parents not wanting daughters and hence committing female infanticide. Many poor families cannot afford to bring up a girl child.
More than 20 women are killed every day because of dowry. The lives of thousands of women are ruined because of this system. These families are not aware of the traditional dowry system and continue to follow the new dowry system blindly.
Dowry is complete injustice with women and does not give women equal status in society. It is also one of the main reasons why husbands become superior to their wives after marriage. The system is creating negativity in the environment and must be revised. The cruel system of dowry forces women to bear the brunt of torture from men. So many incidents of bride burning and dowry deaths have been recorded in the country. It is clear that dowry is creating violence. Groom’s parents are misusing the pure tradition and are not aware that they are doing so.
The Dowry Prohibition Act, enacted on May 1, 1961, illegalised the giving or receiving of dowry. Under the Act, dowry includes property, goods or cash given by either party or anyone else connected to either party during marriage. The Act applies to people of all religions in India. India has an alarming trend that sees that 20 women die every day as a result of harassment over dowry; women are either murdered or compelled to die by suicide. The National Crime Bureau of India, as recently as 2017, recorded nearly 7,000 dowry-related deaths. These deaths rose from about 19 per day in 2001 to 21 per day in 2016.
A court judgment clarifies the legal definition of dowry as:
“Dowry” in the sense of the expression contemplated by the Dowry prohibition Act is a demand for the property of valuable security having an inextricable nexus with the marriage. It is a consideration from the side of the bride’s parents or relatives to the groom or this parents or guardian for the agreement to need the bride-to-be.
As early as 1961, receiving or giving dowry was criminalised by law. But it is still a significant part of Indian marriages, which openly defy the law and fail in women empowerment. The brutal reality of the dowry system is not just the story of rural areas. Even educated families sitting in metropolitan cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore are harassing women for not bringing enough gold or money.
But there is a penalty as well for receiving or giving dowry. If any person, after the commencement of this Act, gives, takes or abets the giving or taking of dowry, shall be punishable with imprisonment that may extend to six months or a fine that may extend to Rs 5,000 or both.
The stated objective of the Dowry Prohibition Act is to prevent the practice of dowry. However, at the same time, the intention of the law is not to penalise all voluntary exchanges or gifts given at the time of the marriage or during the course of the marriage. According to a 1996 report by the Indian police, over 2,500 reports of bride burning are filed every year.
The Indian Nation Crime Records Bureau reported 8,331 dowry death cases in India in 2011. These deaths are not limited to any specific religion. In 2019, reported dowry death cases in India amounted to more than 7,100. This was a gradual decrease from 2014, during which the number was approximately 8,500.
The dowry system makes it necessary for the bride’s family to give dowry in cash or kind to the groom’s family as a pre-condition for marriage. After marriage, some families demand more dowry and if it is not fulfilled, they either abuse or kill the bride because of the inability of the bride’s family or their denial to give more.
In one of the cases reported in Bengaluru in 2020, a few months after marriage, the husband demanded cash despite having received one kilogram of gold in dowry as per his demands. When the extra demand was denied, he burnt his wife.
In some cases, to escape the punishment by law, the husband and his family do not kill the woman directly but harass her mentally and physically, forcing her to die by suicide. A similar case was reported in Kerala in 2019 when a 27-year-old woman was starved to death by her in-laws because their demand of two lakhs rupees in dowry was not met.