An Overview on Dowry Death in India

AUTHOR: Mohini Pandey, Deen Dayal Upadhyay University ,Gorakhpur.

Introduction

Dowry deaths are the death of married women who are killed by the husband and their relatives or forced to commit suicide over disputes about dowry. Dowry is the term which is not new for the people of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Iran. In the context of Dowry, Dowry is the material exchange that the bride gives the groom's side in the course of a wedding.

Giving and taking dowry is a commonly practiced custom in many parts of the world. In India the for Hindus it is dame and for Muslim its Mehar. Dowry has been around since ancient times. Many provisions were made regarding this like dowry prohibition act 1960 but still nowadays it is very common among people and because of this many women suffer and it is causing dowry death. Dowry is the collective greed to society and their urge to show to their status, wealth and grooms worth in society

By taking money or any other kind of payment or gift from the bride 's side , the groom's family thinks it is one kind of reward from them for marrying their daughter and so because the patriarchal society shows women as subordinate and men as superior with all powers in their hands. It is very known for women that nobody will understand their problem because of societies thoughts and that’s why they don’t have any other option left instead of committing suicide.

In India everyone says beti bachao beti padhao for women's rights but even after achieving lots of everything in her life and even taking care of her family she can't escape from the curse of dowry. Sometimes the dowry demand is so much that girls herself say no to marriage. And sometimes because of higher demand for dowry , the parents are not able to marriage of her daughter. So dowry plays an important role in women's lives because many in laws judge the bride by the money and materialistic things given to her by their parents.

Keywords

Dowry, Dowry Death, Domestic Violence, Cruelty.

Provision regarding dowry death in IPC

SEC 304. DOWRY DEATH:

(1) Where the death of woman is caused by any burns or bodily injury or occurs otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of her marriage and it is shown that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband for or in connection with any demand for dowry such death and such husband or relative shall be deemed to have caused her death.

Explanation. For the purpose of this subsection dowry shall have the same meaning as in sec 2 of the dowry prohibition act 1961 (28 of 1961).

(2) Whoever commits dowry death shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than seven years but which may extend to imprisonment for life.

Sec304b of IPC states that if a woman dies within seven years of marriage by any burns or bodily injury or it was revealed that before her marriage she was exposed to cruelty or harassment by her husband or his relative in demand of dowry. Punishment for dowry death is a minimum sentence of imprisonment for seven years or a maximum sentence of imprisonment for life.

Essential ingredients

Death should be caused by burns or bodily injury or by any other circumstances
It must be revealed that soon before her marriage she was exposed to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any other relative .
The cruelty or harassment on her should be in connection with the demand for dowry.

Various causes to demand dowry

There are various which are present in society to demand dowry some are given below

Thinking that it will build a reputation in society – In earlier times people made it very often to take dowry from the bride's family so it carried forward nowadays and became more related to their reputation. Like the more dowry money the groom will get he is more likely to be reputed in society.

In the name of tradition -we must have seen people calling it tradition or a custom to be followed in marriage taking place .In the name of tradition which has to be followed by the bride's family give valuable to the groom's family.

The groom's family ask for dowry – The groom's family voluntarily ask for dowry by giving reasons that their son is placed in a good job and they have a good reputation etc.

What do people think of the dowry system?

Dowry is like a suicidal bag for many people who are not very strong financially. It should be completely stopped from all the country wherever it is followed. The government needs to take action in this so that no more crime takes place. In the modern era of India where people are reaching everywhere and achieving many things but still in many populations our thinking against dowry is the same.

The dowry system varies from state to state and also on the job profile of the groom. If we see in the north part of the country the groom having a government job , doctor or engineer then dowry is huge in terms of money and whereas in the south part of the country , the bride is forced to give dowry in terms of land , jewellery and money.

It can be simply stated that if you can arrange a huge dowry you can get any groom for your daughter which is ethically and morally wrong .

In ancient times dowry was taken only from upper caste families but now it is becoming a universal practice where everyone is forced to give dowry . In India ,marriage is a big affair where both sides of the family call all the relative and have to arrange everything from the beginning till the end of the marriage ceremony .It doesn’t matter whether the bride is educated or not , they are still expected and forced in way to give dowry is an involuntary act , in reality , it is voluntary forced upon the bride's family by the groom's parents.

Dowry is giving rise to a lot of crimes in India. In some families , dowry is used as a threat or as means to extract money from the bride's family irrespective of their financial condition. The north and east part of India show a high rate of dowry related cases; many families subject the bride to domestic violence if their demands are not fulfilled.

They will continue to abuse or threaten the bride at the hands of the husband or his family which unfortunately results in suicide. Nowadays one can say that the groom's parents take dowry as a means of business from the bride's family. The dowry system is a problem for all families irrespective of their financial condition. Families might get any suitable groom to marry their daughter without giving dowry, it clearly shows that the dowry system is prevalent in the society and people are taking undue advantage of it under the grab of tradition.

The dowry that is taken by the groom's side should be stopped everywhere then only the country will be developed and the daughter can be independent. Dowry is also called dahej in Arabic.

Why are dowry deaths?

Dowry is a kind of payment given to the groom 's family from the bride 's family in the form of money or property .And the groom's family asks it as if it is any reward which they deserve for getting married from the bride. Sometimes they do ask for a bigger amount from the bride 's family which the bride’s family is not able to pay, then they give less money or cancel the marriage just because of this dowry so women suffer because of this dowry money before marriage as well as after marriage.

Most of the parents offer more dowry money to keep their daughter in laws happy but they do not realize that dowry can also cause harm to their children. Many disputes dowry cases have resulted in violence against women, such as acid attack and killing Dowry death are married women forced to suicide or murdered by their husband family.

The husband or their family torture the women for money and sometime they ask her to go to her parents and ask money from them and in many cases, they scare the women as well as the parents to left their daughter at their home if they will not fulfil the demands

The dowry disputes make in-laws houses the most dangerous place for married women.

Dowry death in India

Even though many laws and rules were made against the dowry system from ancient times to till now , the dowry system still exists and that is for sure causing dowry death. Many murders have continued to take place because of not giving dowry there are few types of dowry crimes

Cruelty
The cruelty can be a form of verbal attacks or beating and force the women and family to fulfil the dowry demands and in many cases the harassment has forced women to commit suicide.
Domestic violence
Domestic violence can consist of a broad spectrum of threatening and abusive behaviour: emotional, physical, economic and sexual violence.

Current status of dowry death in India

India has alarming trend of dowry death according to which 20 women die every day as a result of dowry related harassment – either murdered ,or compelled to commit suicide. According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)Reports on an every hour a woman succumbs to dowry death in India with the annual figure rising upwards of 7000. More than 6000 dowry deaths registered in 2022 :NCRB Reports as many as 13479 cases were registered in 2022 under prohibition act 1961 , according to the national crime records bureau (NCRB) data that was released on Monday, Dec 4 .

At the same time 6,450 dowry deaths were registered in 2022. Uttar Pradesh was leading in the number of cases registered under the dowry prohibition act , 1961 as well

Fight against dowry

Following increasing rates of dowry and dowry related death a number of various organizations came forward to raise their voice. Organizations such as progressive Organization of Women of Hyderabad ,STREE SANGARSH, Maha dakshita sanity and many others organised several protests against dowry, dowry harassment and dowry death. One of all the agitations focusing on the violence against women was the anti dowry agitation.

This agitation caught public attention and was covered throughout by the media. This paper focuses on the women’s movement and anti-dowry agitations in India. The fundamental question answered is how the tension in regards to the dowry system was addressed by the women movement.

Current judgement of supreme on dowry death

The supreme court has clarified that a conviction for dowry death under sec 304b of pick requires explicit evidence of dowry demand. Mere general statements or allegations on dowry demand are insufficient to secure conviction. The court observed and said that the prosecution must establish a direct link between the cruelty or harassment and the demand for dowry.

In a recent case, the supreme court set aside the conviction of a husband, sister-in-law, and mother- in-law who were accused of dowry death. The court found that the evidence presented did not specifically establish a demand for dowry and dowry and therefore the conviction was unsustainable. This ruling highlights the importance of precise evidence in dowry death.

It ensures that convictions are based on concrete proof rather than general allegation , protecting the rights of the accused. The supreme court decision also underscores the need for thorough investigation and careful consideration of evidence in such cases.

Presumption as to dowry death

Sec 113b of the Indian evidence act 1872 states about the presumption as to dowry death if a woman dies in relation with any demand for dowry and it was shown that soon before her death she was subjected to harassment or cruelty by any person. Then the court will assume such a person responsible for her death.

Misuse of the provision and its constitutionality

Many fake cases have been filed in misusing of the provision for its own motive or in order to give torture to husband family. The women should not misuse the very own section which is made to protect her. However, a mere possibility to misuse the provision should not invalidate the provision. Hence section 498A is constitutional.

Conclusion

Now we have reached the end of the article and you must have an idea of dowry death and the dowry deaths. A significant part of the country is illiterate, and do not realize that dowry is indirectly causing trouble for their daughters in their in- laws' families. Because of systems and customs like these , girl children are killed during birth or orphaned. The girl child is seen as a burden to their families because someday they have to be married and sent off. Girls have to face many problems from birth to till death before their birth they are killed many times just because they are girls and somehow they survived then this cruel world will not let her live peacefully .

Sometime by harassing her ,on road or doing rape of women and many more obstacles for her to pass and survive in this world if somehow she is getting married peacefully then also Sometime their in laws are not good and harasses her and domestic violence are there in family and forced to commit suicide Sometimes and it causes dowry death.

However it is a burden for the bride's parents who must incur insignificant expenses to meet the bridegroom's outrageous expectations. Even after marriage dowry expectations do not go away .

In certain cases the bride in laws are willing to subject the bride to harassment , insult and mental and physical torment.

When the brides parent are put under additional pressure their precious daughter frequently has no choice but to commit suicide in order to prevent more insult and torment at hands of her husbands family.

Furthermore when brides are burned to death the evidence is generally destroyed in the flames. Both recent and historical judicial precedent act as a beacon of hope in tackling this menace effectively. Yet it is essential that the implementation of these provisions must be performed as dedicatedly as expected .