- By: | Muzamil Mehmood
The present society is fully filled with hidden and known evils like child marriage, sati , pratha ,women abuse and drugs etc. Which needs to be eradicated from society. Among these societal ills dowry is at its top peak.
Dowry (Demand of property/ Dahej) .This system in India refers to the durable good, real cash or the property that the grooms family demands from the brides family. This is basically condition of marriage.
Dowry can be described as a crime it can put a great Financial burden on brides family. Dowry system leads to the crime against women. Ranging from emotional abuse and injury to even deaths. This system in the most deep rooted evil in the girls are being murdered by their families for not being able to give dowry to the grooms family. Their is a price for birthing a girl. The dowry system has grappler society with a strength that is impossible to break through. The compliance to it is easier than resistance. To a lot of parents who are unaware of the laws existing against dowry or who are simply not prevailiged enough to take an action, it seems a fair option to kill their female infant than to spend their life earning a dowry that will be hardly sufficient to marry off their daughter in a ‘prestigious’ family .
It is very definitely a fact that the dowry system subjects women and her kins to torture. In 2019 the reported number of dowry deaths was 7.1 thousands which was a depreciation from 8.5 thousand deaths in 2014, but according to data shared by Union Minster of state for home ( Ajay Kumar Mishra) 35493 dowry deaths were reported in the country between 2017 and 2021. Nevertheless it clearly shows the rampancy and state of affairs. It is difficult to calculate the exact no. Of victims of dowry violence because most of them meet with dowry murder at the hands of her in-laws through immolation, starvation etc. Those who escape death have to face domestic abuse by the husband or his family in addition to mental torture. The fear of retaliation by the in-laws if a victim stands up for herself is the primary cause of dowry Deaths or abuse not being reported.
Dowry in Kashmir. It has become norm in Kashmir. This menace has become a daily practice and well accepted norm in our society today. It is being considered as a prevailige and is being practiced with fully enthusiasm by families, to prove their love towards their daughters, but do not the crucks of this curse.
This discrimination rather than being boycotted is being encouraged. A f ather who has brought up this blessing facing evens and odds of life, is being forced to bid away her with this curse.
A number of research studies have been done to find the solution to and the intensity of such crimes.
Nearly 639 cases were registered and 408 people were arrested in 2014. 11 dowry death cases are said to have surfaced in 2022. Dowry is more rampant with the middle classes of the Society. Here occurs the immense need to stop this evil. We individually need to make efforts to cut it’s roots. The most important is do not encourage and support the practice to demanding and accepting the dowry.
The writer is a Social Activist.
