The Dowry system, which was
non-existent in India before the eighteenth century, can be attributed
to the coming of the colonial British Empire with their land ownership
rights and the associated revenues. Prior to the British instituted
system, no single person held land ownership - in fact the village as
a whole owned the land - so no give or take could be possible during
weddings. Once individual and fractious land ownership was forcibly
introduced by the British, it became possible for land to be traded
and offered as gift or transferred. Prior to the British Dowry system,
the only wealth given during weddings was the jewelry/ornaments passed
from mother to daughter as has been happening since generations.
In India, the practice is still very
common, in arranged marriages and in rural areas it is widely
recognized as a Traditional Ritual of Marriage. Demanding dowry is
prohibited by law as of 1961 but these laws are highly misused..
The practice of the bride giving a
dowry to the groom is said to have originated in the system of
recognition that not only the husband was responsible for providing
for his wife, but her father shared this responsibility. In recent times, as women
have better economic opportunities, this tradition no longer holds
valid. While the burden is removed from a woman's father and brothers,
it still remains with the husband.
What began as sharing of the economic
burden of protector and provider role between the two families in an
essentially agricultural economy, today has degenerated into gifts of
gold, clothes, consumer durables, and large sums of money. The dowry
is often used by the receiving family for business purposes, family
members' education, or given to the husband's sisters again mostly as
dowry in their marriage.
To curb the practice of dowry, the Government
of India made several laws detailing severe punishment to anyone
demanding dowry and a law in Indian Penal Code (Section 498A) has been
introduced. However, this has backfired greatly due to misuse of this
law by women in urban India and quite a few incidents of extortion of
money from the husband by the wife and her family have come to light.
The law states jailing of any person the wife names in a written
complaint. Old and aged people and even six year olds have been jailed
by the misuse of this law. The Indian government's main motive for
ensuring that removing evidence requirement( under section 113B) which
is required in other penal cases is not understandable. This has also
lead to increase in suicide rate of married men by 50% over unmarried
men.
