– Pragati Singh
India is a developing country growing day by day in multiple fields; technology, education, medicine, health, industrialization, cinema, media, also including the real nature of it; customs, rituals, multiple colors of religions, festivals, food, traditions etc.
In the enjoyment of living in a country like India, people deny some grey areas of it. If there are many bright sides then it has some dull sides as well. In a country like India, where women are more likely to be regarded as Goddess but it seems that at some point Indian Customs are misleading the society and superior masculinity took that opportunity by misusing the concept according to their needs, they believe that men are rulers and women are the only community they can rule on. Our ‘Vedas’ and Cultural Philosophies taught to value women but they considered ‘value’ as a ‘price’ (an amount or winning gift).
Introduction;
“In our country we celebrate festivals dedicated to Goddess ‘Saraswati’ (source of knowledge) & Goddess ‘Durga’ (victory of divine feminine) but STILL, we have to raise the slogan, ‘BETI BACHAO BETI PADHAO’.”
In marriages, especially in arranged marriages, families investigate every single detail of the groom’s family their daughter is going to marry. ‘Dowry’ is a matrimonial practice that reveals the true intentions of the groom’s family that pre marriage investigation couldn’t possibly do. Demand comes with different packages of price values with facilities, from government officer groom to unemployed groom.
In a case study of [‘State of Himachal Pradesh V. Nikku Ram, AIR 1996 SUPREME COURT 67’. It came out that demand for dowry didn’t finish at the time of marriage, it could be raised anytime even after many years of marriage. During the JUDGEMENT, ‘Hon’ble Justice Mr. B. L HANSARIA’ said, “Dowry, dowry and dowry. This is the painful repetition which confronts, and at times haunts, many parents of a girl child in this holy land of ours where, in good old days the belief was : “Yatra Naryastu Pujyante ramante tatra devata” (where woman is worshipped, there is abode of God). We have mentioned about dowry thrice, because this demand is made on three occasions: (i) before marriage; (ii) at the time of marriage; and
(iii) after the marriage. Greed being limitless, the demands become insatiable in many cases, followed by torture on the girl, leading to either suicide in some cases or murder in some.”][1]
Link between dowry and statutes-
Now do focus on what the procedure said? [Dowry Prohibition Act 1961, “Dowry means any property or valuable security given or agreed to be given either directly or indirectly.” Explanation II of section (2) denotes, “the expression ‘Valuable Security’ has the same meaning as in section 30 of IPC “The words “valuable security” denote a document which is, or purports to be, a document whereby any legal right is created, extended, transferred, restricted, extinguished or released, or whereby any person acknowledges that he lies under legal liability, or has not a certain legal right.”][2]
As time passed the dowry related casualties became serious charges, cognisable offences took place on a regular basis in practice of dowry, a connection became visible between Dowry Prohibition Act to Criminal Procedure Code, Indian Penal Code and Evidence Act. Dowry in itself being the only issue connected to each Law.
[In the same case ‘SHP V. Nikku Ram’, Hon’ble Justice Mr. B. L HANSARIA, continues his judgement, “The highly injurious and deleterious effect on the girl, her parents and the society at large required legislative interference. It started with enactment of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, containing some penal provisions also. But as the evil could not be taken care of by this soft statute, the Penal code was amended first by inserted Chapter XX – A (containing the only Section 498-A) in it by the Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act, 1983 (46 of 1983); and then, by insertion of Section 304-B by the Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Act, 1986 (43 of 1986). Section 498-A seeks to protect a married woman from being subjected to cruelty by the husband or his relative. Section 304-B is aimed at those who indulge in “dowry deaths”. To give teeth to these provisions, Act 46 of 1983 inserted Section 113-A in the Evidence Act, permitting a court to presume, having regard to the circumstances of the case, that suicide by the woman was abetted by her husband or his relative. Similarly, Act 43 of 1986 inserted Section 113-B in the Evidence Act requiring some presumption to be drawn in case of dowry death. Amendment was also made in the Code of Criminal procedure making the offence of dowry death cognizable, non-bailable and triable by a Court of Session.”][3]
How beautifully Justice Hansaria explained the whole procedure regarding each section with provisions in a very few lines.
Let’s face it;
[ Mahatma Gandhi said,
“Any young man, who makes dowry a condition to marriage, discredits his education and his country and dishonours womanhood.”][4]
We fought with many diseases, socially (Sati Pratha, Bal Vivah, Vidhva Vivah) and medically ( Tb, Plague) and now Covid. Then why is this dowry taking so much time. Now it’s time to decide, what should you want to be?, We need Gandhi in every man, we need Ramabai in every woman.
Unknowingly you’re promoting it, stop attending marriages. You are the upcoming generation, you can change society by changing yourself first. Which type of father or mother you want to be. Nowadays, the generation wants destination weddings, then earn it. Don’t take anything from your parents, it doesn’t matter if you’re a girl or a boy.
Face it, Fight for it and then Fly, how can you fly with rented wings? So, you have to earn your wings all by yourselves.
Effects on Women;
[As Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru said,
“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women.”][5]
Everyone is Familiar with the external consequences and impact of dowry as cognisable offences, in everyday newspapers, articles and in your own locality not so far away. It’d be unusual to mention those crimes. Here you’re going to encounter the internal impact of dowry in women’s day to day life and how it is internally affecting our society?
Indian women’s life cycle caused by dowry;
When ‘SHE’ wasn’t even born, society gave her an identity of ‘FEMALE’, a girl who has not even got a proper shape in her mother’s uterus got tagged as ‘WOMEN’ and she lived her whole life with this ‘TAG’.
| Women’s Stage | Issues |
| Unborn | Female Foeticide, |
| Born | A burden, |
| Being a girl | Less education, |
| Growing younger | Mentally and emotionally challenged, |
| Get married | Depression. |
When did a woman take a sign of relief in her whole life? Women are fighting everyday, every minute not just physically but mentally as well. Threats, depression become a daily dose in every phase of women’s lives. Every woman once regretted being a woman in her life. Why? Because women are facing so many issues compared to men, sometimes dying seems easier for her than living.
Dowry or Gift;
Seeing actions against dowry, people used to say that they are not doing any crime, they are just exchanging some gifts. Then the gift could be anything movable or immovable, right?
School uniform theory-
Like every student in every school has to wear the same pattern uniform, so every student looks similar and equal. Same as school uniform theory, it should also apply to gift or marriage expenses at Indian weddings. Limit it or finish it.
Women’s right on father’s property;
In ancient times the mother gave their daughter her gold ‘STREEDHAN’, it was daughters personal property but taken away by the groom’s family later. If you take a closer look at a woman’s life, she doesn’t really have anything personally her’s if she’s a homemaker, before marriage, father’s property, after marriage husband’s property. How will she claim any property for herself as long as they see women as a property.
According to [Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005][6] There’s a law that says women have equal rights in their father’s property same as brothers and after the death of father it’ll be self acquired. But most women in India don’t want to fight with their brothers and spoil their relationship with their families. They are aware but they are not willing to assert.
Flaws in Judicial System;
Pending cases;
Practice of dowry is a punishable offence under Indian Penal Code, 1860 and it’s procedure given under Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. Our courts dealing with dowry cases and many more still pending including sucide cases, domestic violence, dowry death, uncountable cases are pending in our courts. If our judiciary does focus on the cause of these cases that takes time of courts and the lives of women then maybe it’d be possible to fight with dowry. Without law it can’t be possible because in India people took traffic rules more seriously than dowry.
Lack of Female Judges;
Past few months, there have been few negative outcomes related to rape cases, from Hon’ble Courts, it seems maybe they aren’t aware of female’s emotions because absence of femail judges might be a reason, with whom they could discuss cases related women issues when they don’t have any women judge in their bench. Also the male judges came from the same muscular society, they have been seen as a normal basis. We don’t have any Female Chief Justice of India, even on today’s date there’s only one female Judge in the Supreme Court. That’s the reason, there’s a huge need of women judges in the Judiciary.
Impact of patriarchy;
To understand the outcomes and reflections of patriarchy to the society, here is an interview with Activist and Social Scientist ‘Kamla Bhasin’ who is associated with an organization called ‘Sangat’ came to the talk show ‘Satyamev Jayate’ created by ‘Amir Khan’ in 6th May 2012.
[She said, “It’s the philosophy of orientation to the axis of the father and spawns. A social system that underscores surrogacy of females and supremacy of males, It is patriarchy that keeps on interacting this systematically, on an everyday basis. Now the mindset of males must be changed. In my reading, patriarchy dehumanizes males, destroying humanness. The well from which men drink, is also the well from which we women drink. We women subscribe to the same patriarchy that men espouse, it’s what we’re taught. Religion, culture and tradition teaches the same thing, even tradition tells us that we’re inferior. Neither women nor men must be blamed. Fault lies in the philosophy of patriarchy. I think this is not the battle of the sexes at all, it’s a battle between two mindsets, one upholds patriarchy and second upholds equality. You will have to work on several fronts, First, make sure your daughters learn self-respect and how to command respect. Second, give them such a firm footing in life that they should never feel intimidated in a marriage. Give her the confidence to know this. If she is ever abused or insulted, she’s welcome to go to her father’s home. Third, don’t give us dowry, give us a share of property.”][7]
Conclusion;
Here’re few words by Justice ‘LEILA SETH’ First woman judge at Delhi High Court and First Woman Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court, at a show called ‘TEDx Talks’
[Justice Leila Seth said, ” I was 20 when I got married, my fiance and his family never demanded a dowry or anything else. We had a simple celebration, we served vanilla ice cream and salted cashew nuts but we still had fun and enjoyed ourselves. So, you can see that you don’t need anything extra, now I’m happily married for the last 64 years. Every woman, every mother, wants her daughter to be married and when she meets a young man, she tries to size him up to find out if he’s a suitable boy, but at the back of her mind is worry, Does he want a dowry? If so, how much? In fact, it’s the curse of dowry that makes parents not want to have girls. Dowry demands were negotiated at the time of an arranged marriage. Parents were worried as to how they would meet these demands. It was a great trauma for parents, especially those who had more than one daughter. They were bankrupt, spent more than they had and the extortion sometimes continued even after the wedding. So, inested of loving their daughters and wanting to have them, they considered them as a curse and they resorted to something like female feticide or female infecticide in order to prevent this evil of dowry. This was really terrible even though they knew it’s illegal. So what do you think? Can the passing of laws change attitudes? In India with a very patriarchal society, changing attitudes and changing mindsets is extremely difficult, it’s a slow progress but we need to fast forward it. How do we do it? How do we take steps to stop this? I think that I can summarize it in four words. First, Awareness. Second, Assertion. Third, Attitude Change. And fourth, Action. So sisters, don’t be emotionally blackmailed by your brothers. Don’t take dowries; Don’t take after dowries. Demand your inheritance. Brothers, husbands and fathers, make sure that your daughter gets her legitimate share and make sure that she has that confidence that is important for her. Do the legal thing not the illegal, so when you look forward, make sure your daughters get what they deserve. You should not let your daughters down and they’ll not let you down. So this is the mantra; Inheritance, not dowry. Inheritance, not dowry. Repeat it, act upon it and get others to act upon it as well.
I would like to end with an appeal by a daughter to her parents;
‘Father, why do you discriminate against me when I can be as good as my brother? Mother, nature, nourish and educate me and you will see that I’ll not be a burden but will control my own destiny. And you will have nothing to fear when brother is not there, I will look after both of you in your old age. I ask only to be treated equally. Will you not dare? So that I have the freedom to choose and the right to care. And I’m no longer the prisoner of my own gender, unable to resist or retaliate against injustice. Oh father, give me a chance, just give me a chance. Oh mother, break the bonds of tradition and let me into the sunlight to dance, to dance, to dance.”][8]
Reference;
- Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961
- Hindu Prohibition (Amendment) Act 2005
- TEDxTalks | TEDxGateway Women
- Satyamev Jayate, The Talk Show
[1] Judgement given by Hon’ble Justice B. L. Hansaria (State of Himachal Pradesh V. Nikku Ram), AIR 1996 SC 67.
[2] Dowry Prohibition Act 1961, Section (2), Explanation II,
[3] Judgement given by Hon’ble Justice B. L. Hansaria (State of Himachal Pradesh V. Nikku Ram), AIR 1996 SC 67.
[4] Quote by Mahatma Gandhi.
[5] Quote by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru.
[6] Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005.
[7] Speech by Kamla Bhasin in a talk show, Satyamev Jayate.
[8] Speech by Justice Leila Seth in a talk show TEDx Talks.
Indian Journal of Criminal Law and Justice 