Dowry System

 

Dowry system

“Countries and Nations which do not respect women have never become great nor will ever be in future”  so said Swami Vivekananda. Now even after 70-years of independence women are still exploited and harassed by our man dominated society which is the shameful side of the country . In one hand people regard women as DEVI (goddess) on the other hand we burn them alive .it is not expected from a civilised society. It is undeniable that dowry is the most challenging issue in our society. Dowry is the curse to our society and crime against humanity. A significant numbers of death are taking place on daily basis as a result of dowry.

In order to understand the problem of dowry we need to first understand the  definition of dowry which is defined u/s -2 of the Dowry prohibition Act 1961. Which says:-  dowry means any property or valuable security given or agreed to be given either directly or indirectly –

(a)  by one party to a marriage to the other party to a marriage ; or

(b) by the persons of either party to a marriage  or by any other person ,to either party to the marriage or to any other person;

at or before or any time after the marriages in connection with the marriage of said parties but does not include dower or mahr in case of persons to whom the Muslim personal law (shariat) applies.

This act prohibits the practice of giving or taking of dowry and also punishes demanding and advertisement of dowry. But in spite of all such provisions the violation of this act taking place frequently in the society. The consequence of demerits of dowry includes unhappy marriage life, late marriage, domestic violence, cruelty, suicide and large number of dowry deaths.  The lack of education, inadequate law, narrow mentality, son preference, cultural practice, alcoholism and physical structure of the women play the vital role of for existence of dowry. Numerous studied have constantly found that in India majority of the peoples are illiterate , poor  and exploited where violation of women rights are bound to be more; but where the people are educated , advanced ,they are likely to be less prone to in human treatment and exploitation.

Apart from the various schemes, Rules, Regulations, Notifications, Acts launched by the government still in many area continued to fall short with respect of legal reform and implementation.  Government still need to pay more attention towards their laws and policies and check whether it is properly carried out. The role of women commission is appreciable .The commission has grabbed the problem a little but cannot be blamed for its failure as the entire society is involved in this violence.