literature review of dowry system

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Banned by the law, practiced by the society: The study of factors associated with dowry payments among adolescent girls in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Software, Validation

Affiliation Department of Mathematical Demography & Statistics, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India

Roles Writing – original draft

Affiliation Department of Population Policies and Programmes, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India

Affiliation Department of Public Health and Mortality Studies, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Software, Validation

* E-mail: [email protected]

Roles Formal analysis

Roles Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing

• Shobhit Srivastava, 
• Shekhar Chauhan, 
• Ratna Patel, 
• Strong P. Marbaniang, 
• Pradeep Kumar, 
• Ronak Paul, 
• Preeti Dhillon

• Published: October 15, 2021
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258656
• Peer Review
• Reader Comments

Despite the prohibition by the law in 1961, dowry is widely prevalent in India. Dowry stems from the early concept of ’Stridhana,’ in which gifts were given to the bride by her family to secure some personal wealth for her when she married. However, with the transition of time, the practice of dowry is becoming more common, and the demand for a higher dowry becomes a burden to the bride’s family. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the factors associated with the practice of dowry in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

We utilized information from 5206 married adolescent girls from the Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) project survey conducted in two Indian states, namely, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Dowry was the outcome variable of this study. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to explore the factors associated with dowry payment during the marriage.

The study reveals that dowry is still prevalent in the state of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Also, the proportion of dowry varies by adolescent’s age at marriage, spousal education, and household socioeconomic status. The likelihood of paid dowry was 48 percent significantly less likely (OR: 0.52; CI: 0.44–0.61) among adolescents who knew their husbands before marriage compared to those who do not know their husbands before marriage. Adolescents with age at marriage more than equal to legal age had higher odds to pay dowry (OR: 1.60; CI: 1.14–2.14) than their counterparts. Adolescents with mother’s who had ten and above years of education, the likelihood of dowry was 33 percent less likely (OR: 0.67; CI: 0.45–0.98) than their counterparts. Adolescents belonging to the richest households (OR: 1.48; CI: 1.13–1.93) were more likely to make dowry payments than adolescents belonging to poor households.

Limitation of the dowry prohibition act is one of the causes of continued practices of dowry, but major causes are deeply rooted in the social and cultural customs, which cannot be changed only using laws. Our study suggests that only the socio-economic development of women will not protect her from the dowry system, however higher dowry payment is more likely among women from better socio-economic class.

Citation: Srivastava S, Chauhan S, Patel R, Marbaniang SP, Kumar P, Paul R, et al. (2021) Banned by the law, practiced by the society: The study of factors associated with dowry payments among adolescent girls in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India. PLoS ONE 16(10): e0258656. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258656

Editor: Nishith Prakash, University of Connecticut, UNITED STATES

Received: February 17, 2021; Accepted: October 3, 2021; Published: October 15, 2021

Copyright: © 2021 Srivastava et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: The data can be found from the following link: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/RRXQNT .

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The preponderance of dowry and bride-price practices is culturally driven and existed as a way of marriage requirements [ 1 ]. In various traditional societies, the transfer of money or goods accompanies the initiation of marriage. When made to groom families from the bride families, such transfers are widely classified as dowry [ 2 ]. Historically, dowry served the fundamental purpose of inheritance for women as men were thought to inherit the family property in the Indian context [ 3 ]. Moreover, dowry has been seen as a way to compensate the groom’s family for the economic support they would provide to the new member of the family, i.e., the bride, as women tend to have a small role in the market economy and are dependent on their husbands [ 4 ]. The above interpretation holds true in the Indian scenario as historically; dowry has been practiced in upper-caste families where women’s economic opportunities are limited. In the lower caste; where women are seen as economic contributors, the bride-price’s custom was more common [ 5 ]. However, dowry dynamics have been changing in recent times, and people from the upper and lower caste are practicing dowry. Furthermore, recent studies noted that the dowry system is prevalent across many cultures and is no longer is treated as a contribution towards a suitable beginning of the practical life of newly married couples [ 6 ].

In India, dowry has been prevalent for ages. The custom of dowry in India is a deeply rooted cultural phenomenon [ 7 ]. The concept of Sanskritization was proposed by eminent sociologist Srinivas in 1952, and many communities that never took dowry before started practicing dowry probably due to the phenomenon of Sanskritization [ 8 ]. A study has noticed that dowry is being practiced in about 93 percent of Indian marriage and is almost universal [ 9 ]. Not only this, but studies have also noted that dowry payments have increased manifolds in India [ 10 , 11 ]. A clear explanation for rising dowry payments is the marriage squeeze [ 12 ]. However, in her study, Anderson refuted the claims of any association between marriage squeeze and dowry payments [ 11 ]. Marriage squeeze depicts tightness of marriage market. Chiplunkar and Weaver (2019) carefully documented the transition of dowry payments in India using the 1999 wave of the ARIS-REDS data and test which theories about dowry inflation are consistent with the data and which are not [ 13 ]. Chiplunkar and Weaver (2019) show that the theory of sanskritization cannot explain dowry inflation. Similarly, they also find that the REDS data offers limited support to the marriage squeeze hypothesis. Few researchers postulated the theory of ’sex ratios and dowry’ whereby changes in sex ratios due to population growth could alter dowry payments [ 8 , 14 , 15 ]. The spousal age gap difference remains a concern as male marry at older ages than women, so when population grows, as was the case in India in the 1950s and 1960s, there will be a surplus of women at marriageable ages relative to men at marriageable ages. In the resulting "marriage squeeze", competition over relatively scarce grooms may cause an increase in dowry [ 2 , 16 ]. Contrary to these predictions, Chiplunkar and Weaver do not find that sex ratio in the marriage market is related to increases in the prevalence or size of dowry [ 13 ]. Instead, the "squeeze" appears to be relieved by changes in the age of marriage, with a smaller average age difference between brides and grooms [ 11 ]. Zhang & Chan (1999) utilizing 1989 Taiwan Women and Family Survey data of 25–60 years old women stated that dowry improves the bride’s welfare in her family [ 17 ]. They further stated that dowry represents bequest by altruistic parents for a daughter which not only increases the wealth of new conjugal household but also enhances the bargaining power of the bride [ 17 ].

Researchers unanimously agreed that the issue of dowry could be associated with gender inequality and female deprivation [ 7 , 18 ]. Alfano (2017) argued that the presence of son preference resulting from deeply rooted attitudes that boys are more valuable than girls is mostly attributed to the dowry payments [ 19 ]. Alfano (2017) further stated that the economic intuition that sons are cheaper to raise than daughters stem from the dowry [ 19 ]. He opined that dowries increase the economic returns to sons and decrease the return to daughters [ 19 ]. Kumar (2020) is of the opinion that dowry prevails because of disempowerment of women, male dominance, and financial dependence on men [ 20 ]. He further stated that inability to give dowry causes victimization of brides; whereas, the glorification of dowry generates son preference leading to female feticide, sex-ratio imbalances, and gender inequality [ 20 ]. Prevailing son preference in Indian societies leads to female feticide so as to avoid the burden of dowry [ 21 – 23 ]. Bhalotra et al., (2020) found a positive relationship between gold prices and the value of dowry payments [ 21 ]. They stated that payment in gold is essential in Indian marriages and further validated that gold prices marked the financial burden of dowry [ 21 ]. Further, Bhalotra et al. (2020) evidently provided evidence that gold prices impact dowry value and, that parents react to unexpected increases in gold prices by committing girl abortion or neglecting girls in the first month of life, when neglect more easily translates into death [ 21 ].

Parents desire their daughters to marry educated men with urban jobs, because such men have higher and more certain incomes, which are not subject to climatic cycles and which are paid monthly, and because the wives of such men will be freed from the drudgery of rural work and will usually live apart from their parents-in-law. In a sellers’ market, created by relative scarcity, there was no alternative but to offer a dowry with one’s daughter [ 24 ]. A different notion was put forward by Bloch & Rao (2002), where they stated that husbands are more likely to beat their wives when the wife’s family is rich because there are more resources to extract and the returns are greater [ 25 ]. A husband’s greater satisfaction with the marriage, indicated by higher numbers of male children, reduces the probability of violence against women [ 25 ]. Thus, it is likely that aspects of violent behavior are strongly linked to economic incentives [ 25 ]. Previous research has documented numerous factors associated with the dowry, such as socio-economic factors of the families [ 26 ], failure of the government in curbing the practice of dowry [ 27 ], first-born gender in the family [ 28 ]. A study showed that increasing the returns to women’s human capital could lead to the disappearance of marriage payments altogether [ 29 ]. Edlund (2006) hypothezing that rise in dowry payments in India has been associated with the disadvantaged position of women in the marriage market, has shown that in a much-used data set on dowry inflation, net dowries did not increase in the period after 1950 [ 30 ]. Moreover, the stagnation of net dowries after 1950 undermine claims that marriage market conditions for brides have worsened [ 30 ]. Answering the query of whether dowry is bequest or price, Arunachalam & Logam (2016) found that more than a quarter of marriages use dowry as bequests [ 31 ]. Arunachalam & Logam (2016) further noticed limited evidence on marriage squeeze as a factor for dowry [ 31 ].

It was around sixty years back when India enacted the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, to prohibit the giving or taking of the dowry. However, the act has been unsuccessful in curbing down the dowry’s menace and failed in its basic fundamental of eliminating the demand for dowry [ 7 ]. The dowry is so profoundly entrenched that a way out seems a bit tedious task; even well-educated families begin saving wealth for their daughter after she is born in anticipation of the futuristic dowry payments [ 6 ]. Traditional marriage institutions affect the household’s financial decisions and influence saving behaviour [ 28 ]. Despite acknowledging the problem of dowry widely, there is a paucity of empirical studies that systematically analyze the correlates of dowry among adolescent girls in recent times [ 13 ]. Given the growing concerns about the dowry’s socioeconomic consequences, it is imperative to explore the correlates of dowry in India. Therefore, we have tried to examine the factors associated with dowry in India. This study captures data from adolescents aged 15–19 years of age. While examining the correlates of dowry among adolescent girls, this study contributes to the existing literature examining factors associated with dowry.

This study’s data came from Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) project survey conducted in two Indian states Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, in 2016 by the Population Council under the guidance of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. The survey collected detailed information on family, media, community environment, assets acquired in adolescence, and quality of transitions to young adulthood indicators. A total of 150 primary sampling units (PSUs)—villages in rural areas and census wards in urban areas have been selected in the state in order to conduct interviews in the required number of households. The 150 PSUs were further divided equally into rural and urban areas, that is, 75 for rural respondents and 75 for urban respondents. Within each sampling domain, survey adopted a multi-stage systematic sampling design. The 2011 census list of villages and wards (each consisting of several census enumeration blocks [CEBs] of 100–200 households) served as the sampling frame for the selection of villages and wards in rural and urban areas, respectively. This list was stratified using four variables, namely, region, village/ward size, proportion of the population belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, and female literacy. The UDAYA provide the estimates for states as a whole as well as urban and rural areas of the states. The required sample for each sub-group of adolescents was determined at 920 younger boys, 2,350 older boys, 630 younger girls, 3,750 older girls, and 2,700 married girls in the state. The sample size for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar was 10,350 and 10,350 adolescents aged 10–19 years, respectively. The sample size for this study was 5,206 adolescent girls who were married at the time of the survey [ 32 , 33 ]. In the present study the unmarried boys and girls were dropped and only married adolescent girls were included in the sample. Fig 1 represents the sample selection procedure for the present study.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258656.g001

Outcome variables

Dowry was the outcome variable of this study, which was binary. The question was framed as: "whether dowry paid at the time of marriage or later"? the response was coded as 0 means "no" and 1 means "yes." The variable measures the response of dowry if demanded during marriage or after marriage.

Explanatory variables

• Interaction with husband before marriage was named as "Husband known before marriage" and was recoded as not known and known.
• Age at marriage was recoded as less than legal age (<18 years) and more than equals to legal age (≥18 years). The sample in 18 and above age category would be small as the dataset contained married adolescent’s girl aged 15–19 years.
• Spousal age gap was recoded wife older/almost the same age (wife older or one year younger than husband) and husband older (husband two or more years older than wife).
• Spousal education recoded both not educated, only husband educated, only wife educated, and both educated.
• Working status of the respondent was recoded as no and yes.
• Whether vocation training was received or not by the respondent
• Mother’s education of the respondent was recoded as no education, 1–7, 8–9, and 10 and above years of education.
• Land ownership among in-laws was coded as no and yes. The measurements about the land owned was not available in the data set.
• Caste was recoded as Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) and non-SC/ST. The Scheduled Caste include a group of population which is socially segregated and financially/economically by their low status as per Hindu caste hierarchy. The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India [ 34 ].
• Religion was recoded as Hindu and non-Hindu.
• Wealth index was recoded as poorest, poorer, middle, richer, and richest. The survey measured household economic status, using a wealth index composed of household asset data on ownership of selected durable goods, including means of transportation, as well as data on access to a number of amenities. The wealth index was constructed by allocating the following scores to a household’s reported assets or amenities. Principal component analysis technique was used for creating the wealth index variable. The scores were divided into five quintiles using xtile command in Stata 14.
• Residence was available in data as urban and rural.
• Data were available for two states, i.e., Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, as the survey was conducted in these two states only.

Statistical analysis

Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression analysis [ 35 ] were performed to find the factors associated with dowry payment during marriage.

Where π is the expected proportional response for the logistic model; β 0 ,….., β M are the regression coefficient indicating the relative effect of a particular explanatory variable on the outcome. These coefficients change as per the context in the analysis in the study. Svyset command using Stata 14 was used to control for complex survey design. Additionally, individual weights were used to present the representative results. Further it was evident from the robustness check that logit model had a better fit. S4 and S5 Tables provide the summary statistics and correlation matrix along with plot of logistic predicted probabilities vs linear model ( S1 Fig ) and Plot of logistic predicted probabilities vs linear probability model (LPM) ( S2 Fig ).

Next, we check the stability of the regression coefficients and their sensitivity to selection bias using standard methods [ 36 , 37 ]. We obtain bias-adjusted coefficients and calculate the absolute deviation from the non-bias-adjusted regression estimates to understand the extent of bias. Further, we calculate Oster’s δ, whose value higher than one would indicate that the regression coefficients are insensitive to omitted variable bias and variable selection bias [ 37 ]. All estimates were obtained with the assumption that the bias-adjusted model would explain 1.3 times variation in dowry payment status compared to the non-bias-adjusted model. The statistical analyses for coefficient stability check were performed using the psacalc command by estimating linear probability models in STATA [ 38 ].

The socio-demographic profile of the study population (married adolescents aged 15–19 years) is presented in Table 1 . About 65 percent of adolescent girls did not know their husbands before marriage. Most husbands were older than their wives (91%) in the study population, and 64 percent of spouses (both) were educated. Only 11.7 percent of adolescent girls were working, and about 16 percent of adolescent girls received vocational training. Around 42 percent of girls’ in-laws had land ownership. Nearly 30 percent of adolescents belonged to the SC/ST group, and most adolescents were Hindu (82.5%) and lived in rural areas (86%).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258656.t001

Table 2 depicts the distribution of adolescents who paid dowry by background characteristics. Overall, around 86 percent of adolescent girls reported that dowry was paid for their marriage. Bivariate results revealed that paid dowry was significantly higher among those who did not know their husbands before marriage (87.2%) than their counterparts (82.9%). It was more prevalent among those whose age at marriage was more than the legal age (89.1%). Similarly, dowry was more prevalent among married adolescent women whose husbands were older and higher if both husband and wife were educated. Interestingly, paid dowry was significantly higher among those who were not working (86%) and received vocational training (91%). Moreover, paid dowry was lower among the non-Hindu community (84.5%). Interestingly, the dowry was more prevalent in the richest households (88.7%). The rural-urban differential was observed for paid dowry. For instance, rural adolescents (86.8%) reported higher paid dowry than urban (78.7%) counterparts. S2 Table provides estimates for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar separately.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258656.t002

Estimates from logistic regression analysis for adolescents who paid dowry by important predictors were presented in Table 3 . The likelihood of paid dowry was 48 percent significantly less likely (OR: 0.52; CI: 0.44–0.61) among adolescents who knew their husbands before marriage compared to those who do not know their husbands before marriage. Moreover, if adolescent girls who got marry after legal age (OR: 1.60; CI: 1.14–2.14) were 60 per cent more likely to pay dowry than their counterparts. The likelihood of paid dowry was 25 percent more likely among adolescents whose husband was older (OR: 1.25; CI: 1.03–1.67) than their counterparts. The odds of paid dowry were 39 percent, 47 percent, and 89 percent significantly more likely if only husband (OR: 1.39; CI: 1.05–1.83), only wife (OR: 1.47; CI: 1.11–1.96), and both were educated (OR: 1.89; CI: 1.48–2.4) respectively, than when both were not educated. Interestingly, if an adolescent’s mother was having ten and above years of education, the likelihood of dowry was 33 percent less likely (OR: 0.67; CI: 0.45–0.98) than their counterparts. Wealth quintile has a positive relationship with adolescents who paid dowry for marriage. For instance, the odds of paid dowry were 33 percent, 39 percent, and 48 percent more likely among adolescents whose family gave dowry to marry them in middle (OR: 1.33; CI: 1.03–1.73), richer (OR: 1.39; CI: 1.06–1.83), and richest (OR: 1.48; CI: 1.07–2.05) families respectively compared to poorest counterparts. Moreover, the likelihood of paid dowry was 54 percent more likely in rural areas (OR: 1.54; CI: 1.28–1.86) than urban areas. Importantly, Bihar has higher odds for paid dowry (OR: 1.42; CI: 1.19–1.70) compared to Uttar Pradesh. Additionally, the estimates were provided for urban and rural place of residence as many covariates may vary by place of residence ( S1 Table ). Moreover, stepwise regression analysis was used to check for sensitivity bias ( S3 Table ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258656.t003

Table 4 gives the results of the coefficient stability check of the explanatory variables of dowry payment among female adolescents. From the bias-adjusted estimates (see column 8), we observed that the multivariable association between husband familiar before marriage, age at marriage, spousal education, wealth index, residence and state with dowry payment is statistically significant (at 5% level) and lies in the same direction as the uncontrolled estimates. Moreover, from the difference shown in column 10, we can say that the bias-adjusted and non-bias-adjusted regression coefficients are similar. However, Oster’s delta revealed that the statistically significant multivariable association of age at marriage and state with dowry payment suffers from omitted-variable and selection bias.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258656.t004

The practice of dowry is widely prevalent in India [ 9 ], despite the prohibition by the law in 1961. Dowry stems from the early concept of ’Stridhana,’ in which gifts were given to the bride by her family to secure some personal wealth for her when she married [ 39 ]. However, with the transition of time, dowry has become a common practice, and the demand for a higher dowry becomes a burden to the bride’s family. Srinivasan (2005) describes that modern dowry comprises demands that include gold, cash, and consumer goods that far exceed what families can afford, exploiting its obligatory symbolic nature and the fact that they are gifts of love woman from her natal family [ 40 ]. This study aimed to determine the factors associated with the practice of dowry among adolescent girls. The study reveals that the practice of dowry is still prevalent and is influenced by many factors such as spousal age gap, spousal education, and household socioeconomic status.

Our study report that a girl knowing her husband before marriage is less likely to pay dowry than those not known about the husband. This may be because the information about knowing each other is much better in a love match [ 41 ], and the practice of dowry is almost non-existent in the case of love marriage [ 40 , 42 ]. Other studies mentioned that in an arranged marriage where information about each other is limited, the groom’s quality is inferred through his education, associated with the dowry level [ 41 ]. The age of the bride is the main factor in marital negotiation, particularly in rural India. Our study found that a girl married to a husband older than her is more likely to pay dowry than an older girl or of similar age to her husband. One possible explanation by Maitra (2006) in his study on dowry inflation in India, argues that the excess supply of younger brides in the marriage market can leads to increase in dowry price when an older man marries the younger brides [ 43 ]. Another reason could be groom late age at marriage may be associated with pursuing of higher education [ 44 ]. Higher groom education is often found to be associated with higher dowry; this is because due to the competition among the brides for a particular groom leads to offers of higher and higher prices of dowries [ 41 ]. Also, suppose a potential bride’s cares about the qualities of the groom like commitment, sincerity, and loyalty which is important for a peaceful marriage, however if these qualities are unobservable and likely to be true, the brides may judge from the groom education as the signal of these qualities [ 45 ]. Hence, the bride’s family is ready to pay more dowries for a more educated person, not for higher education, but the underlying desirable qualities signals [ 45 ].

However, our study reveals contrasting results as girl education does not impact reducing the amount of dowry paid. Dalmia & Lawrence (2005) while examined the continued prevalence of dowry system in India explained that the amount of dowry or money transfer from brides and their families to grooms and their families does not decrease with increasing bride’s level of education [ 2 ]. Our results show that educated girls are more likely to pay dowry than the uneducated girls whose husband is also not educated. One possible explanation could be that the brides’ education is a good indicator of her household wealth. Hence, higher education and higher dowry are effects of bride’s household wealth [ 45 ]. Girl having a higher level of education tends to marry at a later age because they are more job aspirants than the lower educated girl [ 46 ]. The study of Dhamija & Chowdhury(2020) noted that a delay in marriage is associated with more education, low fertility, and possibly higher dowry for Indian women [ 47 ]. Findings by Field & Ambrus (2008) show that marriage opportunities curtail schooling investment suggest that the benefits to girls of delaying marriage come at a cost to the families, probably in higher dowry payments or less desirable spouses [ 48 ]. A more educated girl puts her parents in a difficult situation because it is very difficult to get a suitable boy for an educated girl. By virtue of her feminine status, a girl is expected to marry a man who should be in a better position and more educated than her. Drèze & Sen (1995) explained that if an educated girl marries a more educated boy, then the dowry payment will be more likely to increase with the groom’s education [ 49 ]. As Mathew (1987) explained, the expected dowry’s mean value increased with the prestige of the groom’s education [ 50 ]. Foreign degrees drew the highest dowries, Ph.D. degree received the lowest than engineering and medical degrees. However, on the other way, in the case of a rift, a more educated bride is more likely to walk out of the marriage, and the groom is bearing a greater risk of separation. So, given grooms value marital life’s stability or longevity, they will want to be paid a higher price for marrying with more educated brides as a premium for bearing the additional risk that such marriages entail [ 45 ].

The studies of Saroja & Chandrika (1991) found that as the bride, parental income increased, and dowry also increased [ 51 ]. This is consistent with our study’s findings, where the girls from the wealthier family were more likely to pay the dowry at marriage. The possible reason for this result is that the higher the parents’ income, the chance with which dowry demands can be agreed with ease, and more smoothly, the dowry payment can take place [ 52 ]. Our study shows that girls from Bihar were more likely to pay dowry than girls in Uttar Pradesh, this finding warrant qualitative study on dowry practices between these two states, because the information from the present study is not sufficient to draw a conclusion for this finding.

The study has some limitations as the study was conducted only in two Indian states, so the researchers could not establish a general conclusion from this study. Also, as our study in quantitative, we are unable to capture the individual social and cultural view point on dowry practice. Additionally, national representative data will be helpful for further study to understand the scenario of dowry practice in India, as because India is a country with diverse social and cultural practices, dowry will vary with respect to their cultural norms. Although the coefficient stability check revealed that the majority of the explanatory characteristics are insensitive to omitted-variable and selection bias, the results for age at marriage and state need to be interpreted with caution.

The study sought to explore the factors associated with the practice of dowry in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. It is evident from this study that the practice of dowry is still widespread, and the results show that increasing age, education, and household economic status of girls are associated with the likelihood of high dowry payment. Limitation of the dowry prohibition act is one of the causes of continued practices of dowry [ 53 ]. However, significant causes are deeply rooted in social and cultural customs, which cannot be changed using laws. Our study suggests that socio-economic development of women will not protect her from the dowry system, however higher dowry payment is more likely among women from better socio-economic class.

Supporting information

S1 fig. plot of logistic predicted probabilities vs. linear model..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258656.s001

S2 Fig. Plot of logistic predicted probabilities vs. LPM.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258656.s002

S1 Table. Logistic regression estimates for adolescents who paid dowry by background characteristics (15–19 years).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258656.s003

S2 Table. Percentage distribution of adolescents who paid dowry by region, 15–19 years.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258656.s004

S3 Table. Stepwise logistic regression estimates for adolescents who paid dowry by background characteristics (15–19 years).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258656.s005

S4 Table. Summary statistics for LPM.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258656.s006

S5 Table. Correlation index for robustness check of LPM.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258656.s007

Acknowledgments

Authors are thankful to Population Council, India for providing UDAYA data for research. This paper was written using data collected as part of Population Council’s UDAYA study, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

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Dowry Inflation: Perception or Reality?

• Original Research
• Published: 16 March 2022
• Volume 41 , pages 1641–1672, ( 2022 )

Cite this article

• Jane Lankes   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3158-4742 1 ,
• Mary K. Shenk   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2002-1469 2 ,
• Mary C. Towner   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0784-1860 3 &
• Nurul Alam   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1202-4451 4  

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Research on South Asia has consistently documented increasing dowry amounts over the past several decades. Although recent studies have largely concluded this is due to an overall rise in prices, and therefore not a real increase per se, methodological limitations make this difficult to discern. In this paper, we assess: (1) if dowry amounts increased faster than the general inflation rate, and (2) how dowry amounts increased relative to income. Using data on rural Bangladesh from 1955 to 2010, we show trends in gross dowry, net dowry, and the ratio of dowry to income using multiple inflation adjustments. We find that only some aspects of dowries rose in certain periods, but the ratio of dowry to income steadily increased across time. We discuss implications of these results for understanding past contradictory findings and for gaining insight into the mechanisms by which widespread perceptions of dowry inflation may be maintained.

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Data Availability

Inflation data that support the findings of this study are included as part of the Online Resources. Data on dowry used in this paper are not de-identified, and therefore not available for public use.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Sarah Damaske, Dr. David Nolin, Dr. Susan Schaffnit, Dr. Robert Lynch, Dr. Saman Naz, and the Penn State Population Research Institute Family Working Group for their helpful comments and insights. This research was supported by funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to the Population Research Institute at The Pennsylvania State University for Population Research Infrastructure (P2C HD041025) and Family Demography Training (T32 HD007514); the National Science Foundation (BCS-0924630 & BCS-1839269); and The Pennsylvania State University Demography Graduate Program.

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Jane Lankes

Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

Mary K. Shenk

Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA

Mary C. Towner

Centre for Population, Urbanization and Climate Change, ICDDR,B (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh), Dhaka, Bangladesh

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Lankes, J., Shenk, M.K., Towner, M.C. et al. Dowry Inflation: Perception or Reality?. Popul Res Policy Rev 41 , 1641–1672 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-022-09705-7

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Received : 18 May 2021

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-022-09705-7

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The social construction of ‘dowry deaths’

Jyoti belur.

a Department of Security and Crime Science, UCL, 35 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9EZ, UK

Nick Tilley

Nayreen daruwalla.

b Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action, Urban Health Centre, Room No. 110, Dharavi, Mumbai 400 017, India

Meena Kumar

c Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and General Hospital, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Road, Sion West, Mumbai 400 022, India

Vinay Tiwari

d Burns, Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery, VM Medical College and Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi 110 029, India

David Osrin

e UCL Institute for Global Health, Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK

The classification of cause of death is real in its consequences: for the reputation of the deceased, for her family, for those who may be implicated, and for epidemiological and social research and policies and practices that may follow from it. The study reported here refers specifically to the processes involved in classifying deaths of women from burns in India. In particular, it examines the determination of ‘dowry death’, a class used in India, but not in other jurisdictions. Classification of death is situated within a framework of special legal provisions intended to protect vulnerable women from dowry-related violence and abuse. The findings are based on 33 case studies tracked in hospital in real time, and interviews with 14 physicians and 14 police officers with experience of dealing with burns cases. The formal class into which any given death is allocated is shown to result from motivated accounting processes representing the interests and resources available to the doctors, victims, victim families, the victim’s husband and his family, and ultimately, the police. These processes may lead to biases in research and to injustice in the treatment of victims and alleged offenders. Suggestions are made for methods of ameliorating the risks.

1. Introduction

In any jurisdiction, decisions have to be made about whether a death is natural or unnatural. If deemed unnatural, further decisions have to be made about whether it was accidental or non-accidental; and if non-accidental, whether self-inflicted or caused by a third party. In the event of death caused by a third party, decisions have to be made about whether anyone is culpable or not. Accounts of events leading up to the death are important in reconstructing the circumstances and cause, which in turn, inform the class into which it is placed. Those formally involved in classifying unnatural deaths vary by country and may include physicians, pathologists, district health officers, coroners, police officers, magistrates, public prosecutors, judges, and morticians ( Brooke, 1974 ).

This paper deals with classification in India of young women’s deaths as a result of burns into three broad classes of unnatural death – accident, culpable homicide and suicide – supplemented by a further class, ‘dowry death’, that is available when the deceased is female and has been married for less than seven years. It contributes to the wider literature discussed below on factors affecting the classification of equivocal deaths. Dowry deaths may occur by various means, including poisoning, hanging or burning. Recognition by lawmakers that women in India have traditionally been vulnerable to dowry-related abuse by their in-laws, sometimes resulting in their death, has led to the enactment of special legal provisions to prevent such abuse and cruelty. We examine the ways in which women’s deaths by burning do or do not come to be suspected as, treated as, and formally classified as dowry deaths. When a death is classified thus, the woman’s husband or other family members are automatically considered suspect and we examine the impact of this classification on the subsequent prosecution and conviction of perpetrators.

2. Background and literature review

‘Dowry deaths’ comprise a unique category of deaths in India. The custom of payment of dowry by the bride’s family to the prospective bridegroom’s family is ancient and widely prevalent. One of the many explanations for it is that it is a form of compensation to the groom’s family for sheltering the woman for life ( Ahmad, 2008 ). Other explanations include the concept of ‘ varadakshina ’: making a gift to the bridegroom to honour him. A third explanation invokes the Hindu Succession Act, which even after its amendment in 2005, confers less than equal property rights on the female child. As a result, customarily dowry is a one-time payment of ‘ streedhan ’ in lieu of her share of the family wealth at the time of her marriage ( Sharma et al., 2002 ; Anderson, 2007 ). In addition, given low employment prospects and low earning capacity for women in general, dowry becomes a rational investment in the groom’s prospects and his high future earning potential ( Van Willigan and Channa, 1991 ; Anderson, 2007 ). The more educated the woman, the more educated her potential partner ought to be and thus the higher the ‘price’ he commands in the negotiation process ( Van Willigan and Channa, 1991 ) as brides compete for more desirable grooms ( Anderson, 2007 ). What might have been, in an earlier time, a means of economically empowering a woman at the time of marriage, has metamorphosed in many cases into an instrument of exploitation of the bride’s family by the groom and/or his family.

When demands for cash, jewellery or goods remain unfulfilled in arranged marriages, or when the dowry is deemed unsatisfactory ( Banerjee, 2013 ), the resulting tensions may lead to the husband or his extended family harassing the woman, sometimes to the extent of killing her or creating such intolerable conditions that she decides to take her own life. Such deaths are termed ‘dowry deaths’ in the Indian Penal Code (defined in section 304B). A conundrum for classification purposes is that both homicides and suicides can constitute ‘dowry deaths’ ( Banerjee, 2013 ). Table 1 shows that the number of recorded dowry deaths has been growing very slowly, but it is unclear whether this is because the numbers have remained stable or reporting practices have remained unchanged. Nevertheless, the numbers are sufficiently high to generate concern.

Recorded dowry deaths in India ( Crime in India 2011 ).

Traditionally, dowry deaths (homicidal and suicidal) occurred through immolation. Indeed, even though in recent years dowry-related deaths as a result of poisoning or hanging may have been increasing, the term dowry death has become synonymous with ‘bride burning’ in popular discourse ( Bedi, 2012 ; Varma, 2012 ). In this paper we focus only on dowry deaths as a result of burns.

The appropriate criminal justice response to the death of a woman from burns follows India’s Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973. Section 174 outlines the response to suicide, homicide, accident, or death under suspicious circumstances, and is applied particularly to women within seven years of marriage. The police are to report the incident to a magistrate (who follows section 176 and is empowered to hold an inquest), and, with at least two people from the neighbourhood in attendance, to report on the appearance of the body and the apparent cause of death.

The Indian Penal Code (IPC) was amended specifically to deal with dowry-related violence, cruelty and dowry deaths in 1983. Section 498A IPC penalizes harassment (or any kind) of a woman by her marital family. Unnatural death of a woman within seven years of marriage attracts penal provisions of section 304B IPC. This section defines dowry death as the unnatural death of a woman following harassment or cruelty by her husband or his relatives in connection with a demand for dowry. In cases where a woman commits suicide, as a result of harassment (not related to dowry) from her husband or his relatives, section 306 IPC addresses abetment of suicide. If it is a dowry-related suicide both sections 304B and 306 are applicable.

Finally, amendments to the Indian Evidence Act (IEA) introduced a presumption of abetted suicide, which is a form of dowry death, and a separate presumption of dowry death ( Ravikanth, 2000 ). Section 113A of the IEA gives the court the powers to presume abetment on the part of the husband or his relatives if a woman commits suicide within 7 years of marriage, if the husband or his relatives subjected her to cruelty. Section 113B provides that the courts ‘shall’ presume dowry death in case of unnatural death of a woman within 7 years of marriage, where prior to death either the husband or his relatives subjected the woman to harassment or cruelty. The 91st Report of the Law Commission enumerated the need for such a presumption in order to ensure that an unnatural death of a woman will entail “the need for investigation by the police or an inquest by the Magistrate into the cause of death becomes strong” ( LCI, 1983 : 4).

2.1. Classifying dowry deaths

The methods of – and difficulties entailed in – classifying unnatural deaths have been highlighted in previous research ( Atkinson, 1971 ; Taylor, 1982 ). Atkinson’s (1971 ; 166) research highlighted the fact that “technological, cultural and administrative influences” on the production of official mortality statistics (referring to suicide statistics) were seldom acknowledged. He suggested that the study of the processes – social and legal – by which official classifications of death are produced can be useful in placing official statistics in perspective and in identifying whether any systematic, non-random biases affect their production.

We explore the process of classification of death of women by burning within the conceptual framework of ‘death brokering’ ( Timmermans, 2005 ), which refers to activities of authorities to render individual deaths culturally appropriate. Timmermans (2005) acknowledges that ‘death brokering’ of unexpected deaths by forensic experts in late modern Western societies involves classifying “profoundly equivocal deaths into contested moral categories”. These forensic experts employ a variety of “cultural scripts” to render sense to these seemingly senseless deaths (2005: 995). In India, the police are primary ‘death brokers’ and employ culturally appropriate scripts to classify death of a woman within seven years of marriage as dowry-related (or not). This involves police officers engaging in a set of social negotiations with the victim, her natal (family of birth) and marital (husband’s family) families, health practitioners, and forensic experts to render the definition of an individual death socially and legally acceptable. How these cultural scripts come to be constructed becomes vital in understanding how dowry deaths are ‘brokered’.

2.2. Burning as a cause of women’s deaths in India

Fire-related injuries are the leading cause of death among women in India in the age group 15–34 years ( Sanghavi et al., 2009 ). Public health research has focused on the causes of burn-related deaths among women, their patterns and trends ( Sawhney, 1989 ; Sharma et al., 2002 ; Ambade and Godbole, 2006 ; Peck et al., 2008 ; Ahuja et al., 2009 ; Sanghavi et al., 2009 ). Collectively the research literature suggests that accidents are responsible for a majority of burns, followed by suicide attempts and finally by homicidal attempts ( Sawhney, 1989 ; Mago et al., 2005 ; Ambade and Godbole, 2006 ; Ambade et al., 2007 ; Kumar et al., 2007 ; Ahuja et al., 2009 ; Chakraborty et al., 2010 ; Ganesamoni et al., 2010 ). Shaha and Mohanty’s (2006) analysis of victim and burn characteristics, based on post mortem reports, found that a majority of female victims were in the age group 18–26 years; were relatively uneducated; were from lower socio-economic positions; and were predominantly Hindu. In the cases studied burns mostly occurred during the daytime, in closed spaces, and kerosene was the main medium used.

While some epidemiological studies of deaths by burning acknowledge the possibility that misclassification of death can occur ( Sanghavi et al., 2009 ), analyses are still conducted on the presumption that the classification can be and is unambiguous. However, the classification of a woman’s death within seven years of marriage is far from straightforward in India. It is especially hard to distinguish between some kinds of intentional and accidental deaths. Neeleman and Wessely (1997) (citing Rockett and Smith, 1995 ) suggest that some methods of death such as drowning (‘soft methods’) are less easily classified as definitely suicidal than others such as hanging (‘hard methods’). Extending their logic, we suggest that death by burning is a ‘soft method’ in terms of ambiguity in determining whether it was accidental or intentional. Public health studies support the suggestion that classification of death by burning is difficult ( Sanghavi et al., 2009 ).

The legal, moral, and forensic, ambiguities involved in classifying an unnatural death suicide, as discussed in traditional psychological and sociological research ( Durkheim 1897 , Stengel, 1964 ; Douglas, 1970 ; Atkinson, 1971 ; Taylor, 1982 ; Pescosolido and Mendelsohn, 1986 ; Neeleman and Wessely, 1997 ; Lindquist and Gustaffsson, 2002 ; Shiner et al., 2009 ; Scourfield et al., 2010 ; Claassen et al., 2010 ), are intensified in the socio-legal context of classifying unnatural deaths of women within seven years of marriage in India, regardless of the cause of death. The literature shows that factors influencing death investigations include racial, religious, cultural, and family concerns which affect medico-legal verdicts ( Carpenter et al., 2011 ; Huguet et al., 2010 ; Timmermans, 2006 ). This study contributes to the wider literature on death classification.

2.3. Formal procedures for classifying women’s deaths by burning

The formal procedure for classifying the death of a woman within seven years of marriage and the available classes and relevant statutes are shown in Fig. 1 .

Official procedure for classification of death of women from burns.

When a woman suffers burns she is, more often than not, taken to the hospital. The police are informed by the hospital and a ‘medico-legal’ case is established. The police attend the hospital to gather available information there. The police secure the scene of the incident. A magistrate is called and records a ‘dying declaration’ (DD) that provides an authoritative victim account of the circumstances surrounding her burns. The DD may be taken by someone else, normally a doctor or police officer, if the magistrate is unable to record it, for example, because the woman fails to survive long enough. The magistrate holds an inquest, drawing on the DD, a post-mortem and statements from the women’s family. Finally, the police classify the death taking advice from findings from the magistrate’s inquest, into one of the categories shown in Fig. 1 .

The inclusion of dowry deaths as a formal offence category in India reflects both an acknowledgement of and a means of trying to deal with violence against women. This is as a result of the way sexual divisions are played out in the sub-continent. Moreover, the emphasis on the accounts given by dying women themselves represents an effort to give them an authoritative voice, where they would clearly otherwise have none in bringing perpetrators to justice. The victim can act as her own witness. In the expectation that she is likely to die she may be presumed to have no vested interest in misleading the magistrate over the course of events leading to her demise. The testimony in her account is therefore granted special privilege.

3. Data and methods

A total of 59 semi-structured interviews were conducted with three groups of respondents: women (and their family members) admitted to two major burns units over two months (May–June) in 2012, health care providers, and police officers. The research sites were two of the largest burns units in two of India’s largest cities, Delhi and Mumbai. The researchers had working relationships with the hospital and police in Mumbai and chose the hospital in Delhi with the largest burns unit in the country as comparator.

Three research assistants were attached to the burns units in both hospitals to conduct case studies for a period of 45 days. They interviewed 33 people, including admitted women who were capable of interview (with family members in some cases), or family members of those unable to take part in an interview. In addition, 14 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with doctors, forensic pathologists and nurses by the third and last authors, and 14 with police officers by the first author. Sampling was purposive.

All interviews took place in private areas, were audio-recorded and transcribed in full. Two interviews with practitioners were conducted with two respondents together. Equal numbers of clinicians, including doctors, forensic pathologists and nurses working in the burns wards were interviewed in each city. Eight police officers in Mumbai and six in Delhi were interviewed. Officers working in five police stations in each city, where cases of women with burns had been investigated in the past year, were selected and officers of the rank of Assistant Commissioners and Inspectors with relevant investigative experience were interviewed.

Interviews were conducted in one or more languages, including English, Hindi and Marathi. All the interviews were translated literally into English and then transcribed. As a result, the quotes are sometimes in non-standard English because they are reported verbatim. Framework analysis ( Ritchie and Spencer, 1994 ; Srivastava and Thomson, 2009 ) was used to examine the processes by which the police classify deaths. The analysis consisted of five steps: classifying the interview material into codes and categories; identifying a thematic framework; indexing; mapping to explore links between various themes; and interpreting and analysing emerging links from the data. The first three and last authors were extensively involved in this process.

4. Ethical approval

The project was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and General Hospital (IEC/14/12), the Ethical Committee of VM Medical College and Safdarjang Hospital (58-11-EC4/8), and the UCL Research Ethics Committee (3546/002).

5. Findings

Respondents largely agreed on the early processes described in Fig. 1 . Medico legal cases were registered in every event of burns. Police took cognizance of all serious burns patients who might die and whose deaths could potentially be classified as dowry-related (female within seven years of marriage), and every attempt was made to record their dying declaration, preferably by a Magistrate. There was no evidence that some were filtered out earlier. However, there was disagreement between the police and other interviewees over whether scenes of incidents were always visited and secured promptly.

In the following sections interviewees’ perceptions on the various strands that influence police classification are drawn together.

5.1. The victim’s account: her dying declaration

The DD is treated as an authoritative statement for classifying the incident along lines summarized in Fig. 1 , in the event that the woman dies. The DD usually follows one of three major narratives, with obvious implications for classification:

• My clothes caught fire in a kitchen accident.
• I was attempting to commit suicide by setting myself on fire.
• My husband and/or his family set me on fire.

What became clear, however, is that the woman’s account in her DD is constructed in ways shaped by the situation in which it is made and is also liable to change as her situation changes. For the 33 women involved in our case studies, 22 incidents were described by themselves or their relatives as accidental, five as suicidal, and six as homicidal. Interviewees claimed that, more often than not, in her first statement the woman usually explains her burns as a kitchen accident. Subsequently, when her parents arrive at the hospital, they encourage her (if she is still alive) to tell the truth about the incident,

Several interviewees, including eight clinicians, nine police officers and four victims or their families, mentioned that often initial accounts given by the victim change over time. As one interviewee put it:

“… there are quite a few patients who want to change their statements. Initially they come, the in-laws are involved in burning, the in-laws are with them, so initially they pretend that it was an accident. Two days later the parents of the girl arrive, then she has the guts to say, no, it was not an accident, it was this.” (SKII Doctor, Delhi).

While families sometimes provide the woman with the necessary courage to tell the truth, at other times their influence can be more pernicious. One interviewee described her experience:

“To the extent that occasionally I feel that the girl or woman who’s burned is kind of tutored by her family members to say that this was homicide. Change the statement, though it really might be suicide. Simply put the net on the in-laws.” (M3, Clinician, Mumbai).

This view was reinforced by a police officer, who interpreted the motivations behind why such changes in account might happen,

“Mostly it is like this – on the first day she had not made any allegations and then there are not very good relations between the two families and we know that the in-laws were troubling her. The girl’s parents tell her, why did you say like this, why did you not tell the truth and all that. So the girl says, ok, I will tell the truth and then the family members come and register a report saying that please record our daughter’s statement again.” (P11, Inspector, Delhi)

One factor at work in the victim’s initial account of her burns was deemed to be fear: fear of the in-laws who are around the victim at the time of admission, or fear of the future, how she would return to her marital home or who would look after her children. As time passes, other influences came into play. One physician, who disbelieved many of the initial accounts he heard, said of one woman,

“… she was almost 80 to 90 percent burnt and that time she was telling it was accidental. I sent all the relatives outside and I spoke with her ki [that] you don’t worry we all are there. Whatever has happened you please tell us. So that time she told ki ‘family members, my mother-in-law and my husband they burnt’.” (M2, Doctor, Mumbai).

A police officer said that,

“Women have a psychology that they are very emotional – maybe that is that they have emotions that why should I trouble my husband, my children need looking after, I might survive or not. So she tells the doctor no – it was a mistake, it was an accident … After a couple of days her family members meet her, she discusses this with them and then her version changes. I have seen many instances of this where the woman has changed her version thrice in three days or twice in four days. (P11, Inspector, Delhi)

Two noteworthy points are raised by the officer: first, that whether the woman will ‘tell the truth’ depends upon the relations between the two families; and second, that the woman’s family is expected to take the initiative and contact the police with a request to record her statement again.

5.2. Woman’s natal family accounts of cause of death

The woman’s family’s testimony is of vital importance in both the inquest and subsequent classification of death by the police. Even if she has made no accusations in her DD, but her near relatives allege harassment, officers asserted that they had no choice but to register a case against the husband or in-laws. Respondents suggested that the accounts by family members often failed accurately to report the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death. They might choose to portray it as an accident or allege dowry death, depending upon circumstances and their situation.

When asked to explain why victims or their families assert that the cause of burns was accidental when it was probably not the truth, one interviewee said,

“Her father-in-law says that. Don’t register the FIR (First Information Report) … I said why should we harass them [in-laws], we will do according to the wishes of daughter, if she says I have to go there [to her marital home], why FIR? Why should we break her home?” (R1b, Father of patient, Delhi)

Clearly, this interviewee did not report the real cause of burns as being homicidal because of pressure from his daughter’s in-laws and because his daughter wanted to return to her marital home when (and if) she recovered. Initiating criminal proceedings would jeopardise her return to her husband’s home. Another reason mentioned for reluctance on the part of the victim or her family to accuse the in-laws of homicidal intent, even if true, was concern over the upbringing of children. A consultant clinician in the burns ward in Delhi said,

“The in-laws say “We won’t look after your child if you open your mouth.” So because of fear the patients do not say what actually happened.” (SK1, Consultant, Delhi)

Previous research has shown that natal families use allegations of dowry death to conduct negotiations with the woman’s in-laws during the run-up to the trial to share or transfer the upbringing of the children ( Berti, 2010 ). On the other hand, sometimes it was also the case that the victim’s family allege harassment because,

“… parents think, our daughter is now gone and he has behaved rudely with us and we don’t want to have any connection with that family, so why should we not do something to give them maximum trouble? Her family thinks like that and the police have no option.” (P4, Inspector, Mumbai).

5.3. Physician accounts of cause of death

Shaha and Mohanty (2006 :105) found that “parents and in-laws of the deceased are becoming adept at manufacturing circumstantial evidence to serve their own interests. Therefore, to establish the truth and for the smooth administration of justice, reliable unbiased medical evidence has to be corroborated”. Health practitioners are primarily concerned with providing specialist care and treatment to women with burns on admission to hospital. Nevertheless, clinicians at the frontline in emergency or burns wards take an initial history from the patient or her relatives, register a medico-legal case and inform the police stationed in the casualty ward. This process was explained by a doctor in Mumbai:

“For example the woman coming in casualty with burns … the casualty officer goes sees the patient, if she is able to talk, asks her the name, age where she stays and how you get the burn. If she is able to tell we directly ask her and then we call the relatives and ask other details … and then we enter alleged history of so and so and so. … we ask the casualty police to see ki [that] this is the thing, she is saying ki [that] burnt by so and so person or suicidal, homicidal whatever.” (M2, Doctor, Mumbai)

Another doctor said that his involvement was restricted to taking down the history or cause of burns as narrated by the patient or relatives; he did not usually delve into the details of the incident.

“We do not go into the depth of that history … how the stove blast has occurred. They usually give the history that a stove blast has occurred, they were cooking something and then suddenly the stove blasted … But we also do not go into that much of a detail ki [that] whether the stove was faulty and where was she sitting and what was she wearing … in casualty area we are mainly more focused on the treatment part.” (M4, Doctor, Mumbai)

The same respondent added that, even when doctors find that the narrative they have been given and the burn patterns do not accord with one another, they seldom have the time or inclination to follow it up in order to try to ascertain the sequence of events that led up to the burns.

“But still, see, we have a lot of work over here and in that we do not get that much time. Even if we think to know ki what was that exactly happened, whether it was suicidal or accidental. See, residents they are working here and there and they do not take that much stress … they just ask kya hua tha [what happened]? Suicide, was they likh de [write it] … you know … it’s just … forget it.” (M4, Doctor, Mumbai).

5.4. Pathologist accounts of cause of death

Shaha and Mohanty’s (2006) research on dowry deaths indicated that medical evidence related only to the cause of burns (mainly kerosene) and describes the position of burns and the total body surface area (TBSA) burnt (on average, 40–80%), as well as describing accompanying characteristics such as singeing of hair and sooty blackening of skin. They found that the evidence did not discuss how burns in alleged dowry deaths are distinguishable from burns resulting from accidental causes. In the absence of clear medical evidence about the classification of death, establishing whether death was accidental or intentional becomes the responsibility of the police. Post mortems (PMs) of burns victims help establish whether there were any ante mortem injuries or poisoning, or post mortem burns, and provide some objective evidence to support allegations of dowry death.

Clinicians claimed that there were certain burn patterns associated with accidental or intentional burns and that these could be used to check the victim’s narrative. One doctor said,

“Sometimes you find very ridiculous cases where she says she was sitting and cooking. If you were sitting and cooking and it caught fire then you will be burnt from your foot upwards. You find that she is head-waist burnt and she is saying that I was sitting down and cooking. That’s not true so obviously there is some kind of pressure …” (SKII, Doctor, Delhi).

We asked police officers whether they consulted attending clinicians and pathologists while classifying the woman’s death. A mixed picture emerged. One police officer said that in some cases they had informal discussions with the attending doctor or forensic pathologist, but it was not incumbent on them to do so since they would act as ‘expert witnesses’ in the event of a subsequent trial.

“Doctors are experts, so we don’t take their statements in our system. Their PM notes are the basis on which the charge sheet is made. They come to court and say [give evidence]” (P2, Inspector, Mumbai).

Another officer said that doctors seldom gave a definite opinion on whether the burns were accidental or intentional. Since they are expert witnesses, pathologists also do not commit to any particular classification,

“No, the doctors don’t give any opinion on that. They just give what injuries were there and how these might have been caused. We have to discuss that with forensic experts. They also do not give any of this in writing, but if we discuss the matter they will say that this [suicide or dowry death] is a possibility. Then we have to infer after we inspect the scene of offence.” (P5, Inspector, Mumbai).

A forensic pathologist told us that the PM was conducted after they had read the inquest and police reports and were aware of the circumstances and alleged cause of burns:

“Once the body is brought to the mortuary, we see the inquest papers, we see the statements of the victim’s parents, relatives – brother, sister, mother, father – whoever he or she is, and then we do the post-mortem. (SKII5, Forensic Pathologist, Delhi)

The same expert went on to say,

“[If] he or she had given a dying declaration or a statement, that this and this work has been done by this and this intention, then only we can go in the direction of a homicidal intent. This is the thing as far as burns cases are concerned” (SKII5, Forensic Pathologist, Delhi).

This implies that the PM would look for relevant evidence to support (or not) the claim, only if there are allegations of homicidal intent. The risk would be that, in cases in which no allegations are made, the PM would not ‘go in that direction’. Whilst our research did not directly reveal this weakness, the possibility exists: recognizing and guarding against this shortcoming might be the pathologists’ contribution to more objective classification of death.

5.5. Police accounts of physical evidence

Even though officers claimed unanimously that they immediately visit the scene of occurrence and take note of all relevant physical evidence, interviews with victims revealed that this was not always the case. One interviewee, brother of a victim (Mumbai) said that her husband had set her on fire, but pressurised her to report it as an accidental stove blast upon admission to the hospital. The police had visited her in the primary health care unit to which she was initially admitted, had taken her account of a stove blast and had logged the matter as an accident. The fact that the police did not return for a couple of days to revisit the woman suggested that they had not visited the scene of occurrence (where no stove had blasted) and therefore had made no attempt to substantiate claims that the burns were the result of an accident.

Preserving the scene of the incident and gathering physical evidence was, however, seen as very helpful in reconstructing the sequence of events that led up to the burning, and thus in constructing a plausible scenario to account for the burns and the subsequent classification of death. Earlier studies on burns have found that physical evidence sometimes contradicts narratives: accounts of burns as a result of a stove burst were contradicted by the absence of a stove in the kitchen ( Rao, 1997 ). A Delhi Inspector corroborated this, explaining that there were stark differences in scenes in cases of accidental and intentional burns:

“Both the patterns are different. If someone is cooking at the stove and if the stove explodes then all the kerosene will fly all over the place, the walls, on her head also. If someone pours kerosene on someone, then it is a bit on the lower side, so we can get an idea whether the death was because of a stove blasting or she was burnt. We can know that from the scene of crime.” (P16, Inspector, Delhi)

Officers were asked whether preserving the integrity of the scene presents special challenges, especially in crowded and densely populated urban areas. They gave conflicting views. An inspector in Mumbai (P1a) claimed that, even if the incident occurs in a crowded slum, people around are very savvy and do not interfere with the evidence. On the other hand, another Mumbai inspector (P6) claimed that, on occasion, there are attempts to clean the scene and hide physical evidence, which the police have to look out for.

5.6. Police constructions of dowry deaths

It might appear at first sight that classification in the case of the kinds of burns discussed in this paper should be relatively straightforward, since the women were available to give an account before they died. But it is not. The police are faced with multiple accounts from different sources, some of which, including those from the victim herself, clearly reflect the interests of those producing them. Moreover, accounts are apt to change and in some instances are inconsistent with the observed patterns of burns or the physical evidence at the scene of the incident. In resolving difficulties in the practical and consequential task of death classification, the police are not without their own interests.

A police officer said that with experience the police are able to gauge whether the pattern of burns matches the version of events.

“If a woman has died because of a stove explosion, then the position of the burns is important – where was she burnt – were the legs burnt? If she was cooking on a raised slab, then where was she burnt … ?” (P4, Inspector, Mumbai).

In practice, it appears that where no allegations are made against the in-laws, or if the woman insists that the burns were accidental, the police may choose not to visit the scene of the incident or look for corroborative evidence. Two officers described cases in which they visited the scene, suspected foul play, and then persuaded the victim or her family to register a case as a crime. One officer went further and claimed, “If we see foul play then it is our duty to register the case” (P16, Inspector, Delhi Police), implying that officers can and do register the offence suo moto (at their own discretion), even if neither the victim nor her family members are willing to do so. In contrast, another officer felt that “Circumstantial evidence is not decisive evidence. That may be supporting evidence, but you cannot use it to make any decisions?” (P11, Inspector, Delhi Police), implying that there must be allegations or statements to support the classification of any burning act as a crime.

Where a woman makes no allegations in her DD, but her relatives subsequently allege dowry-related harassment, one officer said that the decision tends towards registering a case even if it means going against the DD. “If the circumstances are there, we take [register] the case against DD.” (P3, Inspector, Mumbai).

A final, crucial factor that affects the process of classification of death is the police officer’s assessment of the evidence and statements. Two related factors influenced police decisions: the perception of the victim and the need to protect themselves from allegations of corruption and inefficiency ( Belur et al., 2014 ).

In line with previous research, decision-making was influenced by the perceived ‘deserving’ nature of victim ( Bynum et al., 1982 ). Officers sympathized with the woman and claimed that they were entirely guided by what was in her best interest. When asked how, in the event of a discrepancy between physical or forensic evidence and the accounts of the victim or her natal family, the police decide between them, one officer indicated that the approach was victim-led and therefore prioritised the narrative of the victim or her family,

“We lodge the cases and we charge-sheet [a formal document of accusation prepared and submitted by the police to the court of law] them. We will go by the statement of the victim or her relatives, blood relations, and not by the evidence” (P2b, ACP, Mumbai).

The same officer went on to explain why they chose to adopt this default position,

“… because there are a lot of agencies getting into it, women’s activists and Mahila Aayog [Women’s Commission], they will say police are involved. NGOs will come and they will say you have not done it, so it is - you invite allegations otherwise. … You have to give explanations, everybody, right from senior officers to government, everybody will keep asking you, why are you [doing this]? Then they will start finding out ulterior motives …” (P2b, ACP, Mumbai Police)

Eight of the 14 officers interviewed indicated that they had protected themselves from allegations of corruption by being entirely victim-led. While officers did not openly admit to corruption, previous research on women with burns has identified that misclassification can sometimes occur because the police might misclassify deliberately or mistakenly, the reasons ranging from corruption to bureaucracy ( Kumar and Kanth, 2004 ; Sanghavi et al., 2009 ). According to Ravikanth (2000) , police officers not only fall short in their duties, but are guilty of corrupt and incorrect practices in investigating dowry deaths. Our research indicated that the central role of police officers and the fact that they do have a great deal of discretion ( Belur et al., 2014 ), can create loopholes for corrupt or inefficient practices to affect the quality of death investigation.

In practice, whether a death is deemed an accident, suicide, homicide or dowry death depends heavily on allegations in the accounts of the woman or her family, and further, if allegations of harassment are made, whether they are dowry-related. The final classification follows an inverted process. Depending primarily upon whether and what allegations are made by the victim or her relatives, the police invoke particular sections of the law, which in turn determine the legal classification of death.

It is for the Investigating Officer to make the final decision on whether the manner of death was consistent with the woman’s or her family’s story. We were told that, even when the evidence does not fit the story, officers often go along with the victim’s version of it. Thus, they could either ignore evidence that might lead to convicting the guilty, or disregard evidence that might support the alleged perpetrators’ innocence, leading to miscarriages of justice and wastage of criminal justice resources ( Supreme Court of India 2013 ; Delhi High Court, 2010 ). Official records indicate that, whereas the police charged someone in 93% of dowry related cases, between 2001 and 2010 only 32% of charges resulted in conviction ( Crime in India 2011 ; Ghosh and Choudhury, 2011 ). These low conviction rates might partially be explained as the result of incorrect classification (and criminal charges) in the first place.

6. Conclusion: summary of findings and their implications

This research has shown that the authoritative determination of a ‘dowry death’ follows complex social processes, with the police as the final arbiters. In this sense, the police comprise ‘death brokers’ ( Timmermans, 2005 ). Whilst the Indian legislation relating to dowry deaths and the procedures established to identify and deal with them appear at first sight sensible and progressive, in practice we have shown that they operate in unintended ways with some perverse consequences. Fig. 2 shows the various pathways through which the death of a woman by burning may ultimately be classified.

Possible pathways for classification of death of a woman as a result of burns.

We have shown that the accounts of deaths produced by the very women and natal families for whose protection the legislation and procedures are designed nevertheless produce situated accounts that are not mere straightforward chronicles of the events that took place. Rather, accounts are motivated by considerations that reflect the subordinate position of a married woman. Concerns about her future welfare within the husband’s family household in the event of survival, about the care of her children if she perishes, and about the injustice she may previously have endured can motivate the accounts given. These accounts are also apt to change depending on pressures and on her short-term survival expectations. What goes for the woman goes also for her family.

The police are apt to privilege uncritically the DD, sometimes in spite of contradictory evidence and often without looking to evidence that might corroborate or contradict the narrative included in it. Police decisions are situated and motivated, as are those of the dying woman. Motivations might range from corruption, protecting the victim’s interests, to protecting oneself from allegations ( Belur et al., 2014 ). Fear of being seen to fail the dead woman, bringing the wrath of her family, and systems that tend to attach precedence to the dying declaration seem to lead systematically to failures to look for evidence that could cast doubt on the veracity of the DD. The unintended and perverse consequence can be miscarriage of justice for those wrongly accused, failure to prosecute those who are guilty of bride burning and, ultimately a reduction in the credibility of legislation designed to protect women’s interests.

The kind of evidence that could falsify, cast doubt on or corroborate the account given in the DD could come from more extensive and more routine forensic examination both of the pattern of burns experienced by the woman and the scene of the incident. Indeed, even if the woman does not in the event die, collection and analysis of forensic evidence of this kind may still provide opportunities for prosecution. Moreover, the known routine collection of independent evidence may also discourage (perfectly intelligible, but nevertheless damaging) fabrications in the accounts of events and the consequent damage they are liable to produce.

Our findings have implications for research and practice.

6.1. Implications for research

Systematic biases ( Pescosolido and Mendelsohn, 1986 ) could run in both directions in relation to recorded suicides. Some ‘suicides’ may be recorded as a dowry death (hence, a homicide) in order to put pressure on the in-laws; alternatively, some homicides may be recorded as suicides in order to prevent stigma and hammer out a compromise in terms of financial compensation or if children are involved. These are not random biases and there has been little attempt to determine whether their effects, i.e. recording suicides as homicides and vice versa, cancel each other out. The research shows that social factors and social negotiations shape the accounts of burn related deaths by family members, which affects the way they are classified by the police.

These findings help put wider research on dowry deaths and classification of deaths in clearer perspective. Most research on dowry deaths is based on official statistics or hospital records, which often do not match, sometimes leading to discrepancy in findings. The findings need to be qualified by a clear grasp of the ways in which the classification of women’s deaths by burning is accomplished in practice.

The research demonstrates the need to consider cultural, technological and social factors in drawing conclusions about the spread and extent of dowry-related deaths in India (both under-reporting and over-reporting can be unacknowledged problems). Cultural factors here refer to police subcultural factors, but also wider cultural factors that influence the construction of cultural scripts which form the basis of police classification of death. We show that official statistics are an artifact of socio-cultural processes and local policing culture. Further research is needed to help understand regional variation in rates of reported dowry deaths, without assuming that the numbers accurately capture the events they are generally supposed to describe.

6.2. Implications for practice

The research and anecdotal evidence presented revealed that, in believing they were complying with victim wishes, police officers might respond without investigating thoroughly. When a dowry death case comes up for trial, establishing whether the cause of death was homicidal, suicidal or accidental becomes important and any slips in the investigation or original classification can mean a long delay in the judicial process or a miscarriage of justice, with the benefit of the doubt going to the accused. These are strong grounds for examining whether investigatory practices could be improved.

Sources of information that might be more extensively drawn on are those that could check the accounts given of the circumstances surrounding cases. There are at least three main possibilities: the hospital staff treating her, evidence from the scene of the incident, and the report of the pathologist conducting the postmortem. Any or all of these could be routinely used to check that the verbal accounts given are consistent with other evidence. Our findings suggest that they are currently underused. Lindquist and Gustaffsson’s (2002) research in Sweden suggests that good rapport between the police and forensic pathologists is vital in ensuring that the classification of cause of death is correct. There may be scope in India, particularly in burns cases involving young women, to make routine use of forensic experts both to check whether physical evidence is consistent with the accounts of the circumstances surrounding the burns and to suggest new lines of enquiry where inconsistencies are uncovered.

One of the solutions put forward for reducing or preventing ‘bride burning’ has been the proper implementation of existing laws, along with newer stricter legislation to abolish dowry-related crimes ( Kumar and Kanth, 2004 ; Shaha and Mohanty, 2006 ). The research reported here and extensive case law has shown that the ‘victim-centred’ approach of the existing Indian dowry laws is its main strength and also its weakness. The spirit of the criminal and procedural law is intended to ensure that the woman’s (or her family’s) account is central to the classification of her subsequent unnatural death. However, as an intelligible but unintended consequence, this has compromised the letter (if not the spirit) of the law by underplaying the role of objective and forensic evidence.

We recognize that classification of the death of a woman within seven years of her marriage ought to continue to be victim-led, but recommend that the current investigative processes routinely include the collection and analysis of forensic and physical evidence to weigh the victim and family accounts that are collected.

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to the women and their families who shared their stories with us in distressing circumstances. We thank Khoshnam Hamid, Jigna Mistry, and Roma Dey for their sensitive and skilled interviews in hospitals with women and their families. We thank the clinicians at the two hospitals and the police officers who responded to our questions so patiently and knowledgeably. We would also like to thank Dr. Sandhya Kamath and Dr. Avinash Supe for their continuous support to SNEHA. We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers of the paper for their valuable suggestions and comments.

Funding UCL Global Health Grand Challenges Small Grant.

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Dowry System and its Impact on Women in Terai Region of Nepal

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Rajkumari Gurung

Avijit K Shaha

Dowry is a social custom, which arises from the pervasive greed. It is prevailing in both rural and urban sectors and among non-affluent influent section of the people of the Bangladesh. Around fifty percent of the violence against women in Bangladesh are happening due to the dowry system. The author suggested that action plan with proper implementation is necessary for legal and social measures to fight against dowry system. He also further argued that with a combined effort and launching a social movement against dowry may help to achieve a goal oriented development process for which society should consider dowry activity as a criminal act .Dowry is the property that a woman brings to. Her husband at the time of the marriage. It has been a well-established institution among the propertied classes of various lands and times, e.g., in ancient Greece and Rome, India, medieval Europe, and modern continental countries. In civil-law countries the dowry is an important form of property. Dowry system has socio-economic impact of the country. It is one of the worst social systems, which creates discrimination for females by virtue of their birth in this sub-continent especially in the country. Under the dowry system females are treated as a commercial product and they are measured as ordinary goods. This inhuman practice makes the society as unbearable situation. Greed for dowry is very much pervasive. Though currently cruelty of dowry system increases, but its root was originated in the society from the ancient society when non-Aryans started this practice in this sub-continent. In this sub-continent though dowry system is acquit in India but in Bangladesh it is widening. It is increased at a higher rate after the independence. Lot of bridegroom studied at the expenses of father in laws in the British period. Pakistani era and also in, the current age. "GHOR JAMAl" sys-tem was very popular among the Muslim society. At the expenses of father in law many people were able to establish in the society. Dowry is not only prevailing in the rural areas, but also prevailing in the urban areas. People of all religions of this country are more or less affected by this illicit practice. The situation of women in Bangladesh is still deplorable and establishment of human rights of the women in the country is far from reality. When the world is becoming a global village, and gender equality was prevailing both in the developed and developing countries, a large number of women in Bangladesh were being tortured due to dowry by their spouses/members of in laws houses. 1.1 Background of the problem: Bangladesh has already enter into modern computer and science era but Bengali’s women are downtrodden and at the bottom of development mainstream. The women are fighting for equability and social justice yet. They are still treated as second class citizen. We have seen religion, culture and society and political mirrors all these reality. A great number of the total population are depressed by the hierarchical system, which generate casts and gender discrimination, touch ability system in the society. Women are victimizing most in which various types of social discrimination existing hierarchical structure the Hindu religion is dominated to women. The United Nations Secretary-General has repeatedly emphasized that as long as violence against women continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace. Drawing violence against women out of the private domain in to public attention and the area of state accountability has been a formidable task. Violence is any kind of oppression coercion and greatly against another being. However in a patriarchal society, the greatest violence is directed towards girls and women. This includes not only physical violence but also the mental and emotional violence that arise because of discriminatory attitude which affect women throughout their lives. The different is only the nature and its extent violence against women refers to any type of harmful behavior at women and girls. Girls and women are violated in many more forms i.e., child marriage, girls trafficking, sexual harassment, rape, forced marriage, marital rape, forced conception, domestic violence and dowry related violence minimize their human rights reproductive rights. Girls and women are neglected in every aspects of their life too. Women are neglected before their birth i.e., sex selection abortion most of Bengalis agents prefer daughter both mother and daughter get less care than she would have got in case she had a son. Domestic violence against women is a common phenomenon in a patriarchal society in which women are considered as docile, feeble and weak. The atrocity of female dominated society characterized by gender discrimination and old hackneyed socioeconomic dependence to much allegiance of their husbands fear of exposition of fact, dowry related issue, system capable of illiterate true statement from the culprit seems to existing such a situation the court is held on place for the accused to tell fabricate of domestic violence take place if the dark with none to shoot a video tape to the produces in law court as the real evidence of the event. There are various forms of violence the extent of domestic violence is also wide which was rooted very deeply in traditional Bengali community. But more incidences do not come into media. Dowry system is deeply rooted with social and religious system. Dowry is something given to bride from the side of her parents and relatives. Actually it is not any wrong system but if this gets priorities in conjugal life, then become vulnerable and ultimate results different violence. Most of the dowry related violence is seen from jhenidah district of the Bangladesh. The dowry practice is up-coming in crystal clear format. In many hilly base communities they make deal between themselves as if it an important segments of the ceremony. The practice of dowry being pained to grooms with commitment risk of extortion and dowry death, it is made spread in India, Pakistan and Nepal and has begun in Bangladesh. (UNICEF, 1999) It is not only confined to Jhenidah district only, but the increasing in villages and other parts of the country as well even through in Bangladesh also, social acts was passed in 1980 and the Women and Children Repression Prevention (Special Provision) Act 2000 of the country strictly ensures prohibition of dowry in Bangladesh society .

Muhammad Nauman

pratima kamble

This paper explores the correlation in between dowry and their effect on education. Education is the important key of development and self-empowerment. Rural girl's education is also one of the essential part of the sustainable development of the nation but many of the thing that restrict to girls to continue their education. The research has been conducted through analysing the primary researches and the data collected through case studies. This study shows that the dowry is one of the dangerous barrier that effects on the girl's education. this study concludes that the dowry is the influential social evil in our society and only the education can secure the girls.

East west University

Nadia Afroz

Now-a days dowry system has become an unavoidable issue in Bangladeshi society. We are cultivating this ritual by calling it a value or norm of our society. But do we know this is actually a heinous and devastating crime in disguise of giving gifts? Yes we may know this issue, we tell everyone that we are concerned about it. But side by side, we are supporting it also, and it is us who are taking this crime step by step ahead.

Where the women are held in reverence, there do gods reside is an old Sanskrit adage. Irony that we respect our mother India, self-proclaimed patriots but rape its daughter. In the amount which spends over marriage and as dowry costs around an average of 10 lakh in India. Country ranks top in the domestic violence and dowry related issues among other south Asian countries. This paper mainly deals with the dowry related domestic violence from year 2004-2016, which deals with the percentage analysis of its growth/ decline. An analysis on the statistics available with NCRB has been conducted along with to find the nature of these issues. The cultural and religious rituals has put women in an exploitable position. Rather than considering Dowry as a taboo many are considering it as privilege and customary act. Higher education directly proportional higher amount of. If it is not fulfilled it leads to violence against women dowry and also license for atrocities against women. Key words: Dowry, Domestic violence, Atrocities against women, Cultural and religious practices, Customary act.

International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology

Vinod Kumari

The Explorer Islamabad

A dowry is an exchange of property in the form of money, land, vehicle, house or gold between the bride’s family and groom. It is one of the leading forms of marital violence, spreading like fire within our cultural web. The research was conducted to determine the influence of dowry system on rate of marriage, examine the society’s point of view about dowry system and also to explore the immersion of education in the dowry system. The study was conducted in Gulzar-e-Quaid Rawalpindi. Data of 80 respondents was collected by using purposive sampling with the help of in depth interviews and case studies. Chi-square analysis suggests that dowry system creates an imbalance between the status of women who are giving dowry and who are devoid of it. The economic exchange particularly defines and is proportional to the extent of control, respect and power she will have in the new house. Lack of dowry often becomes the cause of conflict in the family and still is a decisive factor when it comes to a woman’s marriage. The adaptation and prevalence of this system dates back to the pre-partition time and has nothing to do with our religion.

Santosh K U M A R Mahato

INTRODUCTION Geographically, there are three regions in Nepal i.e. mountain, hill, and Terai. Jha (2010) mentioned that Terai is a flat area located on the bottom part of Nepal stretches from the border of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India. He added that the Terai region covers about 17% of the total area of Nepal followed by 50.2 percent of the population of Nepal. The Terai is the most vulnerable area in terms of dowry and it accompanies.

Biswajit Ghosh

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An open access publication issn: 2349-2031 |.

Case Study | Open Access

Comparative Study on Dowry System

• Nomik Uddin + −
• Marzana Akter Hamna + −
• Ehsan Talukder + −
• Rayhan Ahmed + −

Of all the problems faced by the women in our society, Dowry becomes first and firmest as a social challenge.

Introduction

Of all the problems faced by the women in our society, Dowry becomes first and firmest as a social challenge. Because though the other problems like rape, childmarriage, murder and kidnapping are happening in the society, they will not affect as strong as the dowry system has its influence.

Though in the beginning theword dowry was not used in the marriage, gifts were exchanged as the symbol of love, prestige. People used to give and take dowry due to social custom, tradition and pressures of the caste system. Dowry system did not start as an impediment to a daughter’s marriage in ancient time. But in the medieval time the brides family was forced to give dowry because of the bridegrooms family expectation and compulsion. Today almost throughout the length and breadth of the country the dowry negotiations have became direct and open.

1.2 Research Objective

The specific objectives of the study are;

• To study the existing system of dowry.
• To know the causes of dowry.
• To assess the consequence of dowry.
• To explore the preventive measures of dowry.
• Scope and Limitatio n

Methodology

The methodology of the whole work is based on secondary data. For preparing this research paper, basically used books, Journals, some case references and websites, newspaper and publish reports and websites and internet. It would be better, if I could be visit relevant practical field and take interview of concern person. I wanted to do that, I was not possible for me within the stipulated time.

Though this research works has been conducted by analyzing documents.

Concept and Development of Dowry System

3.1 Concept of Dowry

A dowry is a transfer of parental property, gifts or money at the marriage of a daughter. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment by the groom or his family to the bride's parents, dowry is the wealth transferred from the bride's family to the groom or his family, ostensibly for the bride. Similarly, dower is the property settled on the bride herself, by the groom at the time of marriage, and which remains under her ownership and control. Dowry is an ancient custom, and its existence may well predate records of it. Dowries continue to be expected, and demanded as a condition to accept a marriage proposal, in some parts of the world, mainly in parts of Asia, Northern Africa and the Balkans. In some parts of the world, disputes related to dowry sometimes result in acts of violence against women, including killings and acid attacks. The custom of dowry is most common in cultures that are strongly matrilineal and that expect women to reside with or near their husband's family . Dowries have a long history in Europe, South Asia, Africa and other parts of the world.

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, dowry is the money or property that a wife or wife’s family gives to her husband when the wife and husband marry in some cultures.

The Oxford Dictionary defines dowry as the amount of property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage.

3.2 Development of Dowry System

Even in the oldest available records, such as the Code of Hammurabi in ancient Babylon, the dowry is described as an already-existing custom. Daughters did not normally inherit anything from their father’s estate. Instead, with marriage, they got a dowry from her parents, which were intended to offer as much lifetime security to the bride as her family could afford.

In Babylonia, both bride price and dowry were practiced. However, bride price almost always became part of the dowry. In case of divorce without reason, a man was required to give his wife the dowry she brought as well as the bride price the husband gave. The return of dowry could be disputed, if the divorce was for a reason allowed under Babylonian law.

A wife’s dowry was administered by her husband as part of the family assets. He had no say, however, in its ultimate disposal; and legally, the dowry had to be kept separate for it was expected to support the wife and her children. The wife was entitled to her dowry at her husband's death. If she died childless, her dowry reverted to her family, that is her father if he was alive, otherwise her brothers. If she had sons, they would share it equally.

Ancient Greece

In archaic Greece, the usual practice was to give a bride price. Dowries were exchanged by the later classical period (5th century B.C). A husband had certain property rights in his wife's dowry. In addition, the wife might bring to the marriage property of her own, which was not included in the dowry and which was, as a result, hers alone. This property was "beyond the dowry” and is referred to as paraphernalia property or extra-total property.

A dowry may also have served as a form of protection for the wife against the possibility of ill treatment by her husband and his family, providing an incentive for the husband not to harm his wife. This would apply in cultures where a dowry was expected to be returned to the bride's family if she died soon after marrying.

In contemporary Greece, dowry was removed from family law through legal reforms in 1983.

Roman Empire

The Romans practiced dowry (dos).The dowry was property transferred by the bride or on her behalf by anyone else, to the groom or groom's father, at their marriage. Dowry was a very common institution in Roman times, and it began out of a desire to get the bride’s family to contribute a share of the costs involved in setting up a new household. Dos were given for the purpose of enabling the husband to sustain the charges of the marriage state. All the property of the wife which was not dowry, or was not a donation propter nuptial, continued to be her own property, and was called Paraphernalia. The dowry could include any form of property, given or promised at the time of marriage, but only what remained after deducting the debts. Not only the bride's family, any person could donate his property as dowry for the woman.

Two types of dowry were known—dos profectitia and dos adventitia. That dos is profectitia which was given by the father or father's father of the bride. All other dos are adventitia. Roman law also allowed for a species of dowry, called dos receptitia, which was given by some other person than the father or father's father of the bride, in consideration of marriage, but on the condition that it should be restored back to the dowry giver, on the death of the wife. The bride's family were expected to give a dowry when a girl married, and in proportion to their means. It was customary for the bride's family and friends to pay promised dowries in instalments over three years, and some Romans won great praise by delivering the dowry in one lump sum.

The practice of dowry in South Asia is a controversial subject. Some scholars believe dowry was practiced in antiquity, but some do not. Historical eyewitness reports, (discussed below), suggest dowry in ancient India was insignificant, and daughters had inheritance rights, which by custom were exercised at the time of her marriage. Documentary evidence suggests that at the beginning of 20th century bride price, rather than dowry was the common custom, which often resulted in poor boys remaining unmarried.

Stanley J. Tambiah claims the ancient Code of Manu sanctioned dowry and bridewealth in ancient India (typically in Rohtak) and especially in Kadian family, but dowry was the more prestigious form and associated with the Brahmanic (priestly) caste. Bride wealth was restricted to the lower castes, who were not allowed to give dowry. He cites two studies from the early 20th century with data to suggest that this pattern of dowry in upper castes and bride wealth in lower castes has persisted through the first half of the 20th century. However, it is more likely that marriages involved both reciprocal gifts between the two families, claims Tambiah, so that insofar as the groom's family gives the brideweath, it tends to be given back as the culturally validated dowry to the bride as part of her conjugal estate.

Michael Wetzel, in contrast, claims the ancient Indian literature suggests dowry practices were not significant during the Vedic period. Wetzel also notes that women in ancient India had property inheritance rights either by appointment or when they had no brothers.

The findings of MacDonell and Keith are similar to Wetzel, and differ from Tambiah; they cite ancient Indian literature suggesting bride wealth was paid even in brahmas- and daiva types of marriage associated with the Brahmanic (priestly) upper caste. Dowry was not infrequent, when the girl suffered from some bodily defect. Property rights for women increased in ancient India, suggest MacDonell and Keith, over the Epics era (200 BC to 700 AD). Kane claims ancient literature suggests bride wealth was paid only in the asura-type of marriage that was considered reprehensible and forbidden by Manu and other ancient Indian scribes. Lochtefeld suggests that religious duties listed by Manu and others, such as 'the bride be richly adorned to celebrate marriage' were ceremonial dress and jewellery along with gifts that were her property, not property demanded by or meant for the groom; Lochtefeld further notes that bridal adornment is not currently considered as dowry in most people's mind.

Above analysis by various scholars is based on interpreting verses of ancient Sanskrit fiction and inconsistent smiths from India, not eyewitness accounts. Available eyewitness observations from ancient India give a different picture. One of these are the eyewitness records from Alexander the Greats conquest (ca. 300 BC), as recorded by Arrian and Megasthenes. Arrian first book mentions a lack of dowry.

The original custom in Bangladesh was the bride price, called pawn, where the grooms family make a payment to the bride parents this has gradually been replaced the dowry called Joutuk. This transaction in custom began in the 1960s.By the early 21 century; the bride price has been supplanted by the dowry. Joutuk, sometime spelled joutuk, like elsewhere in South Asia is a serious and growing problem in Bangladesh. Between 0.6 to 2.8 brides per year per 100000 women are reported to die because of dowry related violence.

Bangladesh has seen a rise in the expected size of dowries in recent decades, as it middle class has grown and there has been accompanying rise in the rate of “dowry death”. In Bangladesh, dowry killing are more frequently done by stabbing or poison rather than burning. Dowry is also a problem of Bangladesh. From January to October 2009, more than 3,413 complaints were made to the police in Bangladesh concerning beatings and other abuses related to dowries. One of the methods used by families who are unhappy with dowry includes acid throwing, in which concentrated acid is thrown on the bride face to cause this disfiguration and social isolation. From 1995/1998, 15 women reported dowry disputes as the motivation behind acid attack, though that number may be low due to under reporting. Bangladesh is combating the problem with legislation largely copied from that of India. Laws as prohibiting dowry in Bangladesh include Dowry Prohibition Act, 1980.

Dowry was widely practiced in Europe until the early modern era. Folklorists often interpret the folk tale Cinderella as the competition between the stepmother and the stepdaughter for resources, which may include the need to provide a dowry. Gioachino Rossini's opera La Cenerentola makes this economic basis explicit: Don Magnifico wishes to make his own daughters' dowry larger, to attract a grander match, which is impossible if he must provide a third dowry.

One common penalty for the kidnapping and rape of an unmarried woman was that the abductor or rapist had to provide the woman's dowry. Until the late 20th century this was sometimes called wreath money, or the breach of promise.

The dowry for the three virgins,the St. Nicholas legend. Providing dowries for poor women was regarded as a form of charity by wealthier parishioners. The custom of Christmas stockings springs from a legend of St. Nicholas, in which he threw gold in the stockings of three poor sisters, thus providing for their dowries. St. Elizabeth of Portugal and St. Martin de Porres were particularly noted for providing such dowries, and the Archconfraternity of the Annunciation, a Roman charity dedicated to providing dowries, received the entire estate of Pope Urban VII.Vast inheritances were standard as dowries for aristocratic and royal brides in Europe during the Middle Ages. The Portuguese crown gave two cities in India and Morocco as dowry to the British Crown in 1661 when King Charles II of England married Catherine of Braganza, a princess of Portugal.

In some cases, nuns were required to bring a dowry when joining a convent. At some times, such as Ancient Regime France, convents were also used by some parents to put less attractive daughters, so that the more marriageable daughters could have larger dowries.Ancien Regime families that could not provide proper dowries also used the convents as places to put their daughters.

In the County of Bentheim, for instance, parents who had no sons might give a land dowry to their new son-in-law. It was commonly given with the condition that he takes the surname of his bride, in order to continue the family name.

Dowry was used in England; however, the right of daughters to inherit and of women to hold property and other rights in their own name made it a different instrument than on the Continent. The Salic law, which required females to be disinherited and disenfranchised from land ownership, did not apply in England. Single women held many rights men did. The most famous example of this English female inheritance and agency right is perhaps Elizabeth I of England, who held all rights a male monarch did.

While single women held rights to hold property equivalent to those of men, marriage and married women were affected by the Norman Conquest changes to the law in the 12th Century. Coverture was introduced to the common law in some jurisdictions, requiring property of a wife to be held in the husband's name, custody and control. The Normans also introduced the dowry in England replacing the earlier custom of the new husband giving a morning gift to his bride. At first the husband publicly gave [or received? the dowry at the church door at the wedding.

If the husband died, which was frequent, there was a Widows dowry of one third of the husband's lands at the time of his marriage; the income, and in some cases, the management, of the lands, was assigned to her for the rest of her life. This concept is included in the Great Charter, and along with the recognition of female inheritance and absence of the Salic law, and women, particularly single women, holding many rights equivalent to those men held, manifests English law differing fundamentally from the law of the Continent, especially the law of the Holy Roman Empire.

13th-century court records are filled with disputes over dowries, and the law became increasingly complex.

The English dowry system permitted most noble families to marry off their daughters and thereby gain extended kin and patronage ties. Marriageable daughters were a valuable commodity to ambitious fathers, and the English aristocracy sent few of their eligible daughters to convents.

Failure to provide a customary, or agreed-upon, dowry could cause a marriage to be called off. William Shakespeare made use of such an event in King Lear: one of Cordelia's suitors gives up his suit upon hearing that King Lear will give her no dowry. In Measure for Measure, Claudio and Juliet's premarital sex was brought about by their families' wrangling over dowry after the betrothal. Angelo's motive for forswearing his betrothal with Mariana was the loss of her dowry at sea.

In Victorian England, dowries were viewed by some members of the upper class as an early payment of the daughter's inheritance.

Dowry System in Different Religion

4.1 In Islam:

In Muslim society, the martial union is denoted by the Arabic word Nikah (marriage).According to Muslim ideals Nikah in the contract of husband and wife legalize their sexual intercourse and imposes certain duties and right between them it is socially and legally recognised therefore it is sacred. Dowry and dower is totally different concept in Muslim religion. Whilst, dower is accepted, dowry is prohibited.

Dower plays a very important role in the marriage relations of Muslim community. Among all Muslims it is considered to be the fundamental right of a Muslim woman to get dower from her husband. It may be in the form of money, property which is given to the wife as a mark of respect. Apart from this, marriage among Muslims is a social contract. Therefore, payment of dower to the women is indispensable.

In order to safeguard the economic position of women after the marriage, Islam has made it legally obligatory on the husband to pay her a reasonable amount as dower. The amount to be fixed as dower depends on the agreement between the two parties, but in any case the object is to strengthen the financial position of the wife, so that she not prevented, for lack of money from defending her rights.

4.2 In Hinduism

Dowry system was generally unknown in early Hindu society, in rich and royal families some gifts were given to the bridegroom at time of marriage. “Atharvaveda once incientally refers to royal recognized eight from of marriage, ,GL Brahma, Daiva, Arsha, Prajapatya, which were approved forms like Asura, Gandharva, Rakshasa, and Pistachio which were unapproved forms. It is only in the Brahma from of marriage which were was peculiar to upper class that marriage meant the gift of daughter wide some ornaments and articles father of the bride could accord to a most suited groom learned in Veda and of god conduct, which he voluntarily invited and respectfully received .however, these present can hardly be called dowries, for they were voluntary made after marriage out of pure affection and presented no impediment in the settlement of daughter s marriage. In Vedic period, dowries were given by present, to attract suitable bridegroom for their daughters.

4.3 In Christianity

The dowry system assumed frightening proportions among the Christians who have for centuries absorbed many of the traditions of Hindu community, from which they originally came and who have inherited the Latin tradition of heavy dowry giving. Even though social intermingling among religious communities here in almost non existent. The Hindu dowry tradition is firmly entrenched among the Roman Catholics. The bridge among this not only expected to bridge with her strewed an of jeweller, clothes and cash, but also furniture, car, television and others luxuries.

A man who paid the bride price but looked for another bride would not get a refund but he would if the father of the bride refused the match. If a wife died without sons her father was entitled to the return her dowry, minus the values of the brideprice. Bride and Talmud mention the practice of paying a bride price to the father of a minor girl. The practice of the price is found in the bride, in the Old Testament.

Rea s on of Dowry System

5.1 Social Custom and Tradition

Custom in anthropology and sociology is a way of thinking or acting that is characteristic of a group of people. Customs influence the way people dress, eat And in general behave; they may take on the force of moral or statute laws. The social custom and tradition is one of the reasons for dowry.

5.2 Security

Dowry is the bride parents gifts of love to ensure that she is provided for financially when she left her parental home. In a materialistic society, there are constant pressures on individuals and families for having more and moremoney not only to provide more comfort to themselves and family members, but also to have some future security.

Gift is a voluntary transfer of property from one person to another during the time of marriage the friends and family members will provide some valuable things as a remembrance of them.

5.4 Pressures of the Caste System

Caste is static exclusive social class membership I which is determined by birth and involves particular customary restrictions and privileged. Among Hindus, marriage, in the system caste and sub caste has been prescribed by the social and religious practices with the result that choice of selecting a mate is always restricted.

5.5 Rising of Prices

The pressure for larger dowries is due to the general rise in prices and the current obsession with gold and silver, the prices of which are rising almost every day When the grooms family sees the situation of the economy they are tempted to demand dowry from the brides family in order to face economic crises.

5.6 . Income to Groom’s Family

The parents will give the best education to their sons in order to good bride. But while getting marriage settlement they will ask dowry because parents who spend a sizable part of their earning in educating their sons regard them as investments to yield returns; they except to realize the first and fattest dividend at their son’s marriage.

5.7 Caste System

Dowry system is related to the caste system, as it is paid in order to marry to a girl to a boy of the same caste of. It is manly practiced among the higher caste of the girl’s family. Because when the girl is married to another caste's boy means it is considered as prestige problems.

Effect of Dowry System

The effects/ impact of dowry system is discussed below:

6.1 Initiates gender imbalance:

When we speak of gender in equality in the nation, dowry system can be considered the catalyst for this issue. According to the social infrastructure of the nation, it is a common perception that a woman is able ability and is to be married off someday, with a dowry debt at disposal. Well, for the masses, the birth of a girl is an inception to long-term plans to pay off the dowry along with the child. Seemingly, this saving venture hampers the future of the girl and restricts her of equal opportunities for the mail child. The very future planning for a better marriage proposal ruins the prospects of a merrier life for the child. Well, dowry system can be accounted for atrocities on the masses. The plight of the girl child is initiated with her birth due to this particular infrastructure and continues to hamper her peace of mind and tranquillity. According to the latest 2011 census stats, the number of females per 1000 males stands at am eager count of 943. Hence, this impacts the building blocks of the society and hampers the growth of the nation.

6. 2 Social Effects :

Society owes its origins to masses and whenwe speak of the constituent evils of the segment in oursubcontinent, dowry system is one of the most leveragedone. Being widely practiced across the nation, every otherfamily faces the brunt of it. If a demand is not met by thebride’s family, she suffers at the hands of her groom’sfamily leading to social imbalance and emotionalbreakdown. Seventy % of our population resides in thevillages and this practice still holds its stance midst theeconomy and the society as a whole. The society seeminglyjudges the worth of a person on the basis of dowry acceptedor received and this framework can be attributed to thedetrimental status of woman in the society.

6. 3 Decrements status of women:

When a girl is born, forparticular individuals, the societal framework is dismayed. She is no longer happiness and her birth is no more anoccasion. She is deprived of basic rights to education, freedom and speech. However, owing to the basic structure, the dowry ideology, her ordeal doesn’t end with marriage. For a female individual, with little or no selfeconomic support, she exists at the assistance of hergroom. Hence, when his demands aren’t met, it leads to thebreakdown of the empathetic relation between the twoentities leading to disparity. After a period, this ordealdoesn’t come to conclusion, rather, it leads to domesticviolence and poses a serious threat to the future of thefamily. The girl loses on her freedom once she is marriedand it yet again, comes at the cost of a dowry debt.

6.4 Promotes domestic violence and crime

Dowry system initiates the act of violence in the society. When demands are not meet by the bride’s family, the atrocities elevate proportionately. At times, extreme steps are undertaken toshell out financial grants or material benefits from thebride’s family. Well, yet again these steps can be attributed to the much debated domestic violence. The crimes against women take a surge owing to this structure of extortion.

6.5 Economic effects :

Economy is not just the financialstockpile of the nation. Rather, it is a deep-vested, masseffort to bring the platter for every individual. Dowrysystem, though it seems a minor social evil can affect the nation and its individuals alike. Owing to this setup, women aren’t granted equal rights and opportunities, leading to lossof economic workforce from the segment. Women areactive participants in the development of the nation, and iftheir rights are hampered at the domestic level, it affectsour economic build-up significantly. We lose the consistentworkforce at the hands of a social evil and hamper thegrowth of our own home and the society.

6. 6 Deteriorating financial status of bride’s family:

Dowry doesn’t affect the bride alone. Rather, its ordeal extends to bride’s parents and they have to bear the financial demandsof their counterparts to ensure well-being of their child. Withregular demands from the groom’s family, reports ofsuicides are yet again common in the country. Needless tosay, this social evil should necessarily be eradicated for the society and the nation.

6 .7 Loss of self-esteem among the women: The demands being met for the welfare of the bride comes at a cost. Out ofconcern for her parents, she loses on self-esteem bybelieving she is a burden on her family. It costs her peaceof mind, and her right to a better life. Dowry system hasimposed an invisible chain upon the freedom and self-respect of women and continues to haunt them since timeeternal. Observing the problem closely, the greed of anindividual ruins the peace of a beautiful brain .

Law against Dowry System in Bangladesh

7. 1 The Dowry Prohibition Act , 1980

a. Penalty for giving or taking dowry

As per section 3 of this Act, “If any person after the commencement of this Act, gives or takes or abets the giving or taking dowry, he shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to five years and shall no less than one years or with fine or with both.

b. Penalty for demanding dowry

As per section 4 of this Act, If any person after the commencement of this Act, demands directly or indirectly from the parents or guardian of a bride or bridegroom, as the case may be any dowry, he shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to five years and shall no less than one years or with fine or with both.

c. Agreement for giving or taking dowry to be void:

As per section 5 of this Act any agreement for the giving or taking of dowry shall void.

d. Cognizance of offences:

As per section 7 of this Act: Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898,

*no Court inferior to that of a marriage of the first class shall try any offence under this Act;

*no Court shall take cognizance of any such offence except on a compliment made within one year from the date of the offence;

* it shall be lawful for a magistrate of the first class to pass any sentence authorized by this Act on any person convicted f an offence under this Act.

Suggestion and Conclusion

8.1 Suggestion

The suggestion /preventive measures aimed at curbing the dowry system is summarized below:

a. Education :

Education is the primary catalyst of growth in any nation. If we have to reach out across the nation and make sure the mainstream community is at par with the nation’s prospects, education is a necessity. Lacks of education lead to irresponsible decisions for leading to financial exploitation from a marriage relation. Dowry system is a social evil and owes its origination to ignorance and illiteracy. Eradicating this evil is not possible without educating the society. The legislation isn’t enough to bring a revolution. Rather, the masses are the ones who hold the concentrate to eliminate the dowry system.

b. Making women self-dependent:

The female sect of our society is an active contributor in the development of the home, the society and the nation as a whole. To churn out productivity, and ride upon the reins of development, women empowerment is a necessity. However, owing to the dowry system, they are exploited both emotionally and verbally. It hampers their development and thought process. Hence, ensuring employment opportunities for the female sect and making education feasible seems the first step to ensure annihilation of dowry system from the society. In the long run, legislations will turn out to be effective, if crimes are reported, and a well educated society inclusive of self-dependent women will ensure robust reporting of dowry related crimes.

c. Gender Equality:

The primary reason behind dowry system is the existence of a patriarchal society. Owing to such a social infrastructure, the dowry system still finds its takers and propagators. To ensure removal of dowry system from the nerves of our system, gender equality is the second step. Educating children about the drawbacks of dowry systems and making sure that they inculcate the spirit to avoid it, is the long-term solution to the issue. To eradicate this evil, we need to learn and educate others about the ill-effects of it and it can be achieved by providing equal rights to both genders. Well, granting equal employment opportunities won’t be enough. Rather, altering the mindset of the masses, and making them realize that a girl child is an entity, not a liability is the long-term solution to the issue.

d. Initiating Mass Media Campaigning:

Media is the propagator of knowledge and the janitor of information interchange. Well, almost every single revolution owes its origins to media campaigns. Yet again, the dowry system asks for a revolution. The legislation has been in the stock for the past few decades, but they have been ineffective to deal with the case. However, media holds the potential to remove dowry system from the mainstream Indian society. By publishing related news and making the authorities aware of any reported case of dowry related crime, they can keep an effective check upon the prospects. Enhancing information interchange is the first step to a well-aware community and media is the perfect medium for the task.

• Lack of sufficient research knowledge to complete the research work properly.
• There is a limitation of availability of source of data and documents.
• The study in fact was a part of our academic curriculum. For this tip, frame was limited. Consequently; it was felt difficult to make this study more accurate and fruitful.
• The study was conducted on the basis of secondary data of the dowry system. So there is a lacking to presenting the originality of incident.
• Government Initiatives:

Government is the body which holds the key to development of a nation. It is the formulator of laws and executes them to make sure people follow them for the betterment of the society. Dowry system has been a part of the society since time eternal. The government has made legislation to limit the dowry exchange. However, it has turned out to be ineffective. Well, to ensure the people follow the laws, proper implementation should be carried out. It should monitor the sentiments of the community and ensure that no dowry exchange exercises are carried out.

e. Social Awareness Campaigns:

When we speak of awareness and revolution, we have to recall that it cannot be brought about by the legislation or the government alone. We as individuals make up the society, and the first step for change is to be initiated by the society itself. Dowry system has long been exploiting the weak and hampering the right to peaceful existence of a woman. Well, government can formulate rules, it depends upon the community to follow it or not. Hence, social awareness is the necessity to ensure robust annihilation of dowry system from the nation. It is a feat which cannot be achieved by the government alone. Active community participation is the primary requisite to make people aware of their rights and hence, in the long term, garner women their rights, and grant them apodictic freedom.

When a girl is accepted not from her virtues but for the money she brings and when the dowry she brings is the be all and end all of the transaction, the marriage looses all sanctity and sublimity. The sooner the dowry becomes the thing of the past, the better for our society. The problem of dowry demand is not merely one of the family demanding cash and goodsbeyond the capacity and desire of another family to give but rather a question of the inter relatedness of psychological, social and economical factors. As one reads the shocking story of individual women and families, one notice that there is very little and often no awareness among them of the roots of the problem or any motivations to curb the practice and bring about a much needed social change. This can be attributed to an internalization of prevailing particular values which view women as inferior and having only themselves to blame for their predicament. It seldom sees them as victims of a particular from of oppression or of socially prevalent sex biases. The burden of tradition, a prevailing ideology of male superiority, an insensitive police fore, and archaic judicial system and a society that condones violence creates a chamber of horror where even angels would fear to tread.

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