Dowry System - A Social Evil

Dowry is derived from the ancient Hindu customs of "kanyadan" and "stridhan". In "kanyadan", the father of the bride offers the father of the groom money or property, etc. whereas for "stridhan", the bride herself gets jewelry and clothes at the time of her marriage, usually from her relatives or friends. In "varadakshina", the father of the bride presents the groom cash or kind. All of these could be done voluntarily and out of affection and love.                                     

The Hindu marriage system is sacramental. According to this system, a marriage is forever, and there is no scope for a separation. Among the various ceremonies previously practiced, the ceremony in front of a "godly" fire ("Yajna" in Sanskrit) has taken over, the antiquated system of "marrying a wife by capture. This form of marriage began the practice of dowry, where originally, the family of the bride would accept gifts and money from the groom's (potential conqueror's) family as an alternative to bloodshed during the capture of the bride. A later modification of this system has paved way for the present dowry system primarily practiced by the society.

The serious consequences of this evil system drew legislature’s attention first in the states of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh and consequently they passed laws restraining this system.  The central legislature, in order to prohibit the demanding, giving and taking of dowry, finally came up with legislation in 1961 popularly known as the “Dowry Prohibition Act”.

However, this act proved to be a toothless piece of legislation and women continued to be slaughtered in the name of dowry demands. To make the legislation effective further amendments were introduced in 1984 and 1986. The 91st report of the Law Commission of India, published in the year 1983, recommended certain provisions in IPC, CrPC and Indian Evidence Act to combat this social evil. The 1984 amendment defined dowry as “in connection with the marriage” replacing original words “as consideration of marriage”. Further, the 1986 amendment includes the property given at any time after the marriage. These provisions have strengthened the efforts to eradicate the dowry evil. The Act of 1961, irrespective of any religion is applicable on each and every person within Indian Territory and has  made even the demand of dowry a culpable offence.

Thus, in current scenario, to uproot the menace of Dowry tradition various anti-dowry provisions have been incorporated under civil laws, criminal laws and special legislative Acts. Some of the relevant Anti-Dowry laws are:

Section 498-A of IPC: It made cruelty by the husband or his relatives punishable with imprisonment up to three years.

Section 304- B of IPC: It defines “Dowry Death”.

Section 113-B of Indian Evidence Act: It provides presumption as to dowry death.

Section 174 and 176 of CrPC: It provides for the investigations and inquiries into the causes of unnatural deaths, by the police and magistrate respectively.

The Judiciary through its various pronouncements has tried to overcome the above lacunae of the existing laws. The Supreme Court in the case of Lajpatrai Sehgal v. State, held that Section 198 of the Code of Criminal Procedure doesn’t apply to cases of dowry. This is because aggrieved parties in dowry cases hardly complain, and the amendment to Section 7 of the Act makes it obvious that relatives of the aggrieved parties are entitled to file a complaint. Also, through the explanation to Section 7 it is clear that even recognised welfare institutions can bring a case against dowry mongers.Further in case of Pawan Kumar v. State of Haryana the Supreme Court has established that persistent demand for commodities after marriage would come under the definition for dowry. In a recent case, the court has held that ‘whether a marriage is valid or invalid a dowry is a dowry’ to make dowry laws more stringent.

Despite having a specific Anti-Dowry law this evil is still growing leaps and bounds. This is basically because of the various lacunae present in the existing law as well as lack of  favourable public opinion as Legislation alone cannot eradicate the deep rooted social problem.  Thus, in order to uproot this menace, mass public awareness movement backed by positive public opinion is necessary. Educating girls and adoption and acceptance of ‘say no to dowry policy’ by youth can also be helpful in eradicating this societal evil ..