Dowry as defined by Webster’s Dictionary means “the money, goods or estate that a woman brings to her husband in marriage.” Dowry system has been quite prevalent in India, where the culture of arranged marriages is still being maintained to date. However, over a period of years, this system saw the increase of abuse of women throughout India, including all religions. Dowry has become one of the greatest social evils of modern India where exorbitant sums of money are given by the bride’s parents to the groom and his family.
Roots of the Dowry System
India is a country where ‘Swayamvara’ was practiced as per the ancient Hindu marriage traditions, where it was the bride who decided whom to marry. Women have held a very important place in the society since time immemorial. No instances of dowry-related violence against women can be found in any of the literature of ancient times. The well-researched book The Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime by Veena Talwar Oldenburg helps understand the follow up of events that led to the dowry menace in India. On the basis of the paper trail left by the British bureaucrats during the British Raj and the personal accounts of women in India, the following facts come to light:
- Though system of Dowry existed in India even before the British Rule, the format of this tradition was entirely different.
- Dowry was an institution that established the financially independent status of the woman and was managed by the woman herself.
- It was a form of recourse in case of any emergency.
- The part of the property of her father that the bride was entitled to was given as dowry in the form of land, gifts, etc.
- The dowry was given to the bride, not the groom.
- In case of land given as a gift, the bride was the sole benefactor of the wealth generated from it.
- The dowry menace was an aftermath of the Permanent Settlement of Bengal in 1793 by the British wherein private ownership of land was enabled. As per this law, women were prohibited from owning any property at all. Thus all the wealth a bride received from her parents at the time of the wedding was automatically transferred under the ownership of the husband. Thus the traditional dowry system got converted into a menace creating an institution of greed that oppressed women.
- Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code will be made a compoundable offence with the permission of the courts as suggested by the Law Commission and Justice Malimath Committee. This would help to initiate conciliation proceedings and out-of-court settlement.
- Previously non-bailable, the amendment will make the offence a bailable offence.
- The police officers will be instructed not to arrest a person under Sec 498 A of the IPC unless and until the parameters laid down flowing from Section 41, CrPC (when police may arrest without warrant) have been satisfied.
- The investigating officer has to take the permission of the SP or any other officer of the equal rank in metropolitan cities.
- The penalty of Rs 1,000 in case of a wrongly filed dowry harassment case will be increased to Rs 15,000.
