Dowry death

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Dowry deaths are the deaths of young women who are murdered or driven to suicide by continuous harassment and torture by husbands and in-laws in an effort to extort an increased dowry. Dowry deaths are reported in various South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Dowry death is considered one of the many categories of violence against women in South Asia.

Most dowry deaths occur when the young woman, unable to bear the harassment and torture, commits suicide. Most of these suicides are by hanging, poisoning or by fire. Sometimes the woman is killed by setting her on fire; this is known as "bride burning", and sometimes disguised as suicide or accident. According to Indian police, every year it receives over 2,500 reports of bride-burning ^[1], while human rights organisations in Pakistan report over 300 deaths per year. ^[2]

The Indian National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports that there were about 6787 dowry death cases registered in India in 2005. Incidents of dowry deaths during the year 2005 (6,787) have increased significantly by 46.0 per cent over 1995 level (4,648). However, the increase was marginal (0.1%) over quinquennial average of 2000-2004 and there was a decline by 3.4 per cent (7,026) compared to year 2005. The bureau, reported a total of 2,276 female suicides due to dowry disputes in 2006, that is six a day on an average ^[3].

Contents 1 Dowry Laws 1.1 Save Indian Family 1.2 Opposition 2 Activism 3 Further reading 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Dowry Laws

'The 1961 Dowry Prohibition Act' prohibits the request, payment or acceptance of a dowry, "as consideration for the marriage". where "dowry" is defined as a gift demanded or given as a precondition for a marriage. Gifts given without a precondition are not considered dowry, and are legal. Asking or giving of dowry can be punished by an imprisonment of up to six months, or a fine of up to Rs. 5000. It replaced several pieces of anti-dowry legislation that had been enacted by various Indian states. ^[4]

[edit] Save Indian Family

Save Indian Family, a men's right movement in India, believes that dowry statistics have been heavily misused by various unscrupulous organisations to make money and to whip up anti-male sentiments in society. However, SIF is also alleged to be supportive of abusive practices and an institutionalized contribution to violent practices against women in South Asia. According to SIF, 65% of dowry death cases are false; as with most of the movement's claims, these allegations are often said to be baseless and intended to undermine the grave reality of violence against women in India and other parts of South Asia. [1] SIF describes 'dowry deaths' as mythical, and claims these are suicides by wives, which are presented in such a manner as to punish an innocent male [2].

[edit] Opposition

Dowry, has been reported to be the predominantly favoured form of female family inheritance in India [3], and a method of 'equalising' with a groom of higher social status [4]. SIF asserts that dowry harassment of women and their families is a feminist invention,^[5] and that the woman is the abuser in almost all cases of family abuse.^[6] It also asserts that since the dowry legislation is resorted to by women who have already decided to leave the marriage, it does little to affect the cause of abolition of dowry[5]. The group notes high rates of arrest under the anti-dowry law but low rates of conviction ( 2% ). It campaigns for the decrimininalisation of anti-dowry offences, with the threat of imprisonment removed.^[7]

[edit] Activism

Indian women's rights activists campaigned for more than 40 years to contain dowry deaths without much success. The Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 and the more stringent Section 498a of IPC (enacted in 1983) did not achieve the desired result. Using the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (PWDVA) implemented in 2006, a woman can put a stop to the dowry harassment by approaching a domestic violence protection officer. Due to demands by women's rights activists, the Indian government has modified property inheritance laws and permitted daughters to claim equal rights to their parental property. Some religious groups have urged the people to curb the extravagant spendings during the marriages.

[edit] Further reading

• Dowry and Protection to Married Women, by Paras Diwan, Peeyushi Diwan. Published by Deep & Deep Publications, 1987.
• Crime in Marriages, a Broad Spectrum, by Poornima Advani. Published by Gopushi Publishers, 1994.
• Encyclopaedia of violence against women and dowry death in India, by Kalpana Roy. Published by Anmol Publications PVT. LTD., 1999. ISBN 8126103434.
• Dowry Death in India, by Geetanjali Mukherjee. Published by Indian Publishers Distributors, 1999. ISBN 8173410917.
• Dowry Death, by Kamakshya Prasad, Jawaid Ahmad Khan, Hari Nath Upadhyaya. Published by Modern Law Publications, 2000. ISBN 8187629045.
• Women in South Asia: Dowry Death and Human Rights Violations, by Pramod Kumar Mishra. Published by AuthorsPress, 2000. ISBN 817273039X.
• Dowry murder: the imperial origins of a cultural crime, by Veena Talwar Oldenburg. Published by Oxford University Press US, 2002. ISBN 0195150716.
• Death by Fire: Sati, Dowry, Death, and Female Infanticide in Modern India, by Mala Sen. Published by Rutgers University Press, 2002. ISBN 0813531020.

[edit] References

• - Death of two women due to dowry demands
• - Leaders of community call for an end to lavish wedding celebrations
• - Dowry Disgrace and Suicides
• - Man executed in Bangladesh for causing dowry death to his newly wed wife
• - Most dowry victims in State of Punjab(India) are poisoned
• - Fight Against Dowry

[edit] External links

• - Article by women's activist Madhu Kishwar
• - Indian National Crime Bureau Data on Dowry Deaths
• - Indian newspaper articles on Dowry Deaths
• - National Commission for Women, (NCW) India