Dowry has been a prevalent trend in our country for a long period of time. It is said that the status of women has uplifted with time and they presently stand shoulder to shoulder with the men in the society and so has the elevation of this particular trend. Dowry system has changed with the passage of time.
Origin of dowry traces its path to the Vedic ages where the parents of the bride used to give their daughter jewelry and other basic amenities as gift to establish their households and to help them to settle in their married life. But with time this tradition became a curse for the society. The basic purpose of dowry was that as a new member was added to the groom’s family, so she used to bring things as her basic amenities in order to make her life comfortable. Now with the changing status of women, the face of dowry also started changing. The things that the bride used to bring to her matrimonial home as a blessing from her parents to make her life comfortable, the family of grooms started using it as the way to make their life comfortable. Gradually this trend started to put burden on the bride’s family. The family of brides has to suffer a lot to get all the demands put forward by the groom’s family to make their daughters’ married life happy. In some cases, the family of the groom puts lot of pressure on bride side and demands expensive gifts out of greed.
This greed has afflicted the system of marriage in our society the most. The eligible grooms are now treated as a commodity. The families of such grooms act as negotiator and demand cash, jewelry, goods, bikes, cars and other luxuries even property. The system of dowry has impacted the Indian society adversely. Families splurge lavishly in weddings to earn a good impression in the community. It can be interpreted from the behavior of these people that higher the dowry paid or received; higher will be the honor in the society. This makes the marriage look like a transaction more than a connection.
Not being able to pay the demands of dowry has a detrimental social effect on both the families as well as the daughters to be wed. Bride burning is one of the biggest consequences of dowry system in our society. Driven by the greed, there are an increasing number of young brides being burnt alive within their households by their in-laws. Many a times, the brides commit suicide due to increasing pressure from her in-laws for dowry. Brides are being subjected to domestic violence both physically and verbally. They suffer from mental abuse as well.
The girls, most of the times, remain silent in spite of all the agony that they suffer due to fear of the community. They do not tend to intervene despite knowing about all the laws and regulations that are there to protect them from this social evil, called dowry. Also the men in our society who call themselves realist, most of the times accept this trend as a part of marriage and become a party to it willingly.
There are many more practices that can be over listed as cause and effect of dowry. But the question is; is this practice everlasting or it can be put to an end? I think it is very much stoppable. We just need to follow a few steps to eradicate this evil from our society.
The very first thing that is required to be done is imparting basic as well as higher education equally to the girls as compared to the boys. Now this race for education has already begun for girl child also. However it has not spread over to all the sections of the society, it was handful in middle and upper middle classes. In the place, where the crimes for girls are increasing, it is a difficult task for parents to teach their girls in comparison to boy. But girls are still making their place in the society.
Throwing some light to the part that has to be played by men for the eradication of dowry from our society. The men should insist on marrying without taking a single penny. They should stop their family from taking dowry. On the other hand, the self sufficient women should drift towards marrying the man who says ‘No’ to dowry. The wedding celebrations should not be extravagant as the families of both the parties spend their life time savings on such expensive weddings which put financial pressure on them.
The existing laws should be strictly enforced. Let’s focus on the laws that are there to protect women from heinous crimes evolving from the system of dowry. The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 punishes those who try to give or take dowry, helps in giving or taking dowry, gives advertisement for dowry; with an imprisonment up to 5 years and fine up to 15,000 (Punishment varies for advertisement). Section 304B of Indian Penal Code, 1986 gives punishment to those who commit dowry death. Section 498A of IPC provides punishment for people subjecting women to cruelty.
Talking about the law, the irony of our country is that majority of laws meant to protect the citizens are least known to them. Despite the efforts done by women’s organization, serious activism, legal amendments and heightened awareness of dowry being a crime, the practice is still elevating lately. Despite every stigma, dowry continues to be the signature of marriage in modern society as well. I would rather say it is a price paid for the lifetime partnership.
Pooja Jha 