Dowry in India

 " START MARRYING A WOMAN FOR LOVE AND STOP DIVORCING A WOMAN FOR MONEY"

What is dowry? 

A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. 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, or her family, dowry is the wealth transferred from the bride, or her family, to the groom, or his family.

WHAT IS THE SOCIAL ROLE OF DOWRY?    

The institution of dowry is not of recent origin. It may be traced to the ancient practice of marriage by purchase or purchase of wife,[3] which appears to have transformed later into the practice of purchasing husbands.^[4] The ‘duty’ of giving dowry later became the “essential negotiation” of marriage transaction in India. What a man receives or doesn’t receive really don’t make or break his or his family’s financial status. The richer man is the larger the dowry he expects. A man who gets a scooter as dowry is in a position to buy it; a man who gets a car probably has a car. A dowry is more of an acknowledgment of a status rather than a determinant of it.

The purpose of dowry-giving rituals is comparable to that of traditional offerings to feudal overloads. Whether or not these offerings made any substantial difference to the lord’s actual wealth, they had to be offered as a token of respect, in acknowledgement of his status. Non-compliance of this ritual would be perceived as an unforgivable insult.

Similarly, any omission on the part of the girl’s family to give gifts at the appropriate times is perceived by the boy’s family as an insult to their status. The emphasis is not on the financial loss but on what they see as disrespect. One of the major purposes of giving dowry seems to be a constant public reaffirmation of her inferior status and his superior status. Every marriage and dowry ritual publicly places a stamp of unequal value on the bride and groom. Its significance is not primarily economical but political, in the sense that it defines a power relation between the man and the woman.   

Causes of dowry system:

1. Greed Factor – dowry demands often is exemplary of the collective greed of the society. Extortion in the name of social standing, compensation for the cost of groom’s education, his financial stability is a key feature of Indian marriages. Demands are put forward shamelessly and are expected to be met with silence.

2. Society Structure – the dowry system is largely the manifestation of the patriarchal nature of the Indian society where men are considered superior to women in aspects of physical and mental capabilities.

3. Religious Dictates – Religious constraints imposed by the society on marriage customs, mainly suitability of groom have a contributing factor towards the dowry problem. These constraints do not condone inter-religious marriages or even between different religious sects and a suitable groom has to be found from the same religious background. 

4. Social Constraints – Aside from similar religious backgrounds, further constrains are imposed based on caste system and social status. Practices like caste endogamy and clan exogamy, has to be kept in mind while arranging a match. 

5. Illiteracy – lack of formal education is another cause for the prevalence of the dowry system. A large number of women are deliberately kept from schools either due to certain superstitions or from the belief that educating girls will take away from their eligibility as good wives.

6.Ropulsion Towards Adhering to Customs – Indians value traditions a lot and they tend not to question customs. They follow traditions blindly and provide dowry because it is the norm handed down through generations.

7.Social Status of Women – the inferior social standing of women in Indian society is so deep-rooted in the psyche of the nation, that this treatment of them as mere commodities is accepted without question, not only by the family but by the women themselves. When marriage is viewed as the ultimate achievement for women, evil practices like dowry takes its roots deeper in the society.

Effects of Dowry System

1. Short Term Effects of Dowry System – these effects of the dowry system are immediate and are a permanent fixture in the daily news.

a. Injustice towards girls – dowry bears a huge financial obligation for the bride’s family. As a consequence, a girl child is viewed a possible source of drain on the family’s finances, ultimately an onus. This view evolves into gigantic proportions taking the shape of infanticides and feticides of girl child.A host of restrictions are imposed on them in the name of family honour and they are made to stay indoors. Child marriages are still practiced because age is counted as an index of purity. It also stems from the belief that young girls can be better molded into the household roles than older girls. 

b. Violence against women – contrary to hopeful parents, dowry is often not a one-time pay up. Demands are continuously made by the husband’s family who consider the girl’s family as a never ending source of finance. Inability by the girl’s family often leads to verbal abuse, domestic violence and even deaths. Brides being burned by the in-laws are hardly a novelty in this country. 

c. Economic burden – getting a girl married is associated with a hefty amount of money by Indian parents due to direct or subtle demands for dowry by the groom’s family. Families often borrow heavily, mortgage properties leading to major decline in economic health.

d. Gender inequality – the idea of paying dowry in order to get a girl married generates an increased sense of inequality among the genders, placing men superior to women. Young girls are kept from schools while their brothers are given access to education. They are regarded incompetent for roles other than housework and are often discouraged from taking up jobs. Their opinions are suppressed, not valued or ignored more often than not. Physical and behavioral restrictions are imposed on girls that are completely natural for boys.

2. Long Term Effects of Dowry System – the short term effects lead to the following long-term consequences

a. Gender imbalance – the much abhorred practices like abortion of female fetuses and killing of girl babies have resulted into an unnaturally skewed child sex ratio (CSR) in India. In states like Haryana and Rajasthan where these practices are most prevalent, the CSR stands at 830 girls per 1000 boys. This in turn leads to peculiar practices like polyandry and an increase in violence against women.

b. Loss of self-esteem in women – in a country which has experienced centuries of inferior attitude towards women, it is very hard to maintain a high level of self-regard if you are a woman. Naturally, women themselves are bound in the shackles of an idea that they are incapable of any contributions to the society. Their sense of self-worth hits rock bottom and they are increasingly subjugated to injustice.

c. Status of women –practices like dowry are social evils and a huge deterrent towards improvement of social status of women in India. Inferiority of women has been impressed upon the minds of the nation time and again by the demands of dowry.

Solutions to Dowry System:

1. Law – several laws have been enacted to prohibit the practice of dowry and the injustice against women stemming from it. The Dowry Prohibition Act was passed on 20th May, 1961 with an aim to eradicate the evil practice from the society. The act declares not only the practice of accepting dowry unlawful, but also penalizes giving of the same. It includes property, valuable security like cash and jewelry exchanging hand during the marriage. Making demands of dowry is punishable by a minimum imprisonment of 5 years and a minimum fine of 15,000 rupees. Incidences of cruelty by the husband or his family against the wife have been addressed in the Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code and Section 198A in the Criminal Procedure Code. Section 113A added in the Indian Evidence Act further provides the family of the bride to charge the husband’s family of abetting suicide of their daughter within 7 years from the date of marriage.

2. Enforcement – it is never enough to just introduce acts and amend sections to fight against a social evil. This requires strict and ruthless enforcement of such laws. That aspect still leaves a lot to be desired. Although such allegations are taken very seriously by the authorities, lack of proper investigative procedures often leads to the accused going free. The government needs to ensure a zero-tolerance policy for such offenders and ensure enforcement of the law through systemic changes.

3. Social Awareness – creating a widespread awareness against the evils of the dowry system is key first step towards eradicating the practice.Campaigns should be designed to reach the deepest strata of the society and aim to spread knowledge about the legal provisions against dowry. There also is the need to promote the need for educating the girl children.

4. Education and self-dependence of women – education is not just required to find your vocation in life, it is essential to gain eyes and ears to a world beyond the one you can immediately see. It is important or all of us to emphasize on educating the girls in order to fight widespread social evils like dowry. Knowledge of their rights will enable them to speak up against practice of dowry and ongoing marginalization. They will also be able to strive for self-dependence and not view marriage as their only salvation.

5. Overhaul of mindsets –India as a country requires major overhaul of its existing mindsets in order to push back against the iniquitous custom of dowry. They need to realise the fact that in today’s society women are perfectly capable of doing anything that men can. Women themselves need to come out of the belief that they are inferior to men and they need to depend on men to provide for them.

Anti Dowry Movement (Dowry Free India): What Is Rameni?

Jagatguru Sant Rampal Ji Maharaj preaches in His sermons to adopt the noble virtues like Eternal Knowledge, Conscience, Contentment, Love, Endurance, Kindness, Forgiveness, Modesty, Renunciation, Disinterest, Peace, Religion, Devotion, Equanimity. The great saint has taken effective steps against social evils. He has devised an innovative method of the dowry free marriage ceremony, popularly known as Ramaini, that happens in seventeen minutes without any exchange of money and commodities as dowry. There is no pomp and show, and this way His devotees not only save money but also valuable. 

Ramaini (Dowry Free Marriages) in Haryana:

Dowry Free India: Following Sant Rampal’s spiritual guidance, society has now come forward to eliminate the demon of dowry. In just 17 minutes, one such pageant-free wedding was organized by Rohtak resident the groom Vikas who has completed M. Tech. and the bride Pinky who has done M. Com. at Jhajjar district of Haryana.The special feature of the ceremony was its simplicity, with no decoration and dowry. The attire of the groom and the bride were quite simple. The pair explained that they were devotees of revolutionary Saint Rampal Ji and they followed the learnings from their Satguru to eradicate the evil dowry system and therefore they performed an exceptionally simple ceremony.

Ramaini in Rajasthan:

Similarly, two more Dowry Free Marriage (Ramaini) ceremonies were performed in district Barmer. The father of the two brides was very thankful to Saint Rampal Ji because of Him, he could perform his daughters’ weddings without the burden of dowry. There are thousands of examples in various parts of India where such dowry free weddings saved girls from the curse of dowry. Every year on the occasion of Kabir Prakat Diwas by Jagatguru Rampal Ji Maharaj performs a hundred weddings in the Mega Bhandara. Saint Rampal Ji Maharaj is the only saint on the planet earth who bestows True Devotion to all devotees irrespective of caste, religion, and economic status at free of cost. The devotees who follow vigorously enjoy all worldly pleasures as well as achieve salvation with His blessings.

WHAT ARE THE INHERENT FLAWS IN ANTI-DOWRY LEGISLATION? 

Many states attempted to curb the practise of dowry in the past, but parliament took cognisance of the need to impose legal restrictions on dowry in 1961 and enacted the Dowry Prohibition Act.

The penal provisions of the Act have proved to be virtually ineffective. The Act suffers from serious shortcomings which definitely come in the way of its successful implementation. This is proved by the absence of any kind of impact of the Act on the people for the past one decade of its existence. And, surprisingly, not even one case under the Act has come up before the courts. The only cases reported so far relate to the legality of dowry agreements.

In practice, the anti-dowry law, like any other welfare legislation, may prove to be pretence and a slumbering enactment. It may be observed more in breach than in implementation. Unless a serious attempt is made to enforce it, it proves to be a dead letter.[8] However, the law alone cannot tackle traditions like dowry. Adequate social awareness and education together with determination to back all measures designed to check such evils are necessary.

CONCLUSION

Dowry system is good unless and until it is considered as a gift given to the bride by her parents. If the groom’s parents are demanding money to get married as a “Dowry” then that is completely wrong and illegal.The greed for dowry and undeniably the dowry system as a tradition calls for the severest criticism. It is apparent that legislative measures such as the Dowry Prohibition Act have not met with the targets for which they were intended. Possibly legislation in itself cannot succeed in removing such an evil, and the solution must eventually be found in the principles and willpower of the society and its active expression through legal and constitutional methods.

" WHERE WOMEN ARE HONOURED THERE GODS ARE PLEASED; BUT WHERE THEY ARE NOT HONOURED NO SCARED RITES YIELDS REWARDS"

Blog by- Hansika