Singh |1

Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University

Lucknow,U.P.

SUBJECT : ECONOMICS

TITLE OF PROJECT:

INFLATION AND ITS EFFECTS

ON

VARIOUS SECTIONS OF INDIAN ECONOMY

(Synopsis)

Submitted to: Submitted By:

Dr. Alka Singh Abhishek Kumar Singh

Assis.Prof.(English) Roll no. 04 (2nd semester)

 Singh |2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Any accomplishment requires effort of many people and this work is no different. I take this
opportunity to thank Dr. Alka Singh (Assistant Professor, English) for giving me such a
wonderful topic for research and providing me valuable training and guidance at the various
stages of my project.

I will also remain highly indebted to the librarian for providing the requisite research material.

Lastly I am thankful to all my colleagues who have given time to help me during the completion
of the project.

Abhishek Kumar Singh

 Singh |3

Abhishek Kumar Singh

Professor Alka Singh

English

6 April 2014

A Theoretical Perspective on Dowry System in India

Marriages are made in heaven, is an adage. A bride leaves the parental home for the
matrimonial home, leaving behind sweet memories therewith a hope that she will see a new
world full of love in her groom's house. She leaves behind not only her memories, but also her
surname, gotra and maidenhood. She expects not only to be a daughter in law, but a daughter in
fact. Alas! The alarming rise in the number of cases involving harassment to the newly wed girls
for dowry shatters the dreams. In-laws are characterized to be outlaws for perpetrating a
terrorism which destroys matrimonial home. The terrorist is dowry, and it is spreading tentacles
in every possible direction.
Imagine the plight of a young woman, newly wed and thrust into an unfamiliar situation.
She is surrounded by those she has only just met, her new husband and his family. They regard
her as a means to an end – she is little more than a device by which to enrich them. She finds
herself emotionally and physically harassed day and night because her parents cannot meet all of
her in-laws’ dowry demands. Her parents have already exhausted much of their life savings and
have little left to give. But because she is a dutiful wife, a good daughter, an obedient woman,
she stays at her in-laws, resigned to her fate.
Then, one evening, while she is working in the kitchen, she feels a terrible chill. Someone has
doused her with a pail of kerosene and another is about to throw a burning match. Can she save
herself by taking off her clothes? No. When doused with kerosene or gasoline, a human being’s
first feeling is sharp cold. Instantaneously, aided by one’s own body heat, the kerosene
evaporates by drawing out the young wife’s warmth. The match is thrown. She bursts into a ball
of flames. A living human being, with a warm body, full of love, hope, and trust towards what
should have been a new and exciting phase in her life – a life terminated in its prime – all for a
motor car, a scooter, a bicycle, a refrigerator, or a television. This is the shocking reality of the
contemporary dowry marriage in India and the frightening experience faced by many young
 Singh |4

women. Each year, thousands of these young women are murdered, through what has been
dubbed “bride-burnings”, by husbands and in-laws seeking increased dowry demands.
While the practice of dowry is commonly perceived by the international community as one of
Indian custom and culture, in its current form it is more accurately described as a social
phenomenon believed to bestow a greater social status upon the recipient. Originally designed to
be a gift given out of affection at the time of a daughter’s marriage, today the dowry system has
turned into a perverted version of an ancient and respected custom. It has now become an
obligatory transaction that places a heavy impact on a family’s financial and social status and a
young wife’s welfare. In the last four decades, dowry negotiations between the families of brides
and grooms have escalated into continuing demands even after the agreed-upon amount is given.
Even more disquieting are the increasing numbers and the ways in which young wives are killed
when their husbands and in-laws are dissatisfied with the amount of dowry given or when
additional demands are not met. Frequently, as the violence and abuse escalates, if the young
wife is not murdered she is driven to commit suicide.
In this project, I will discuss about the historical perspective of dowry as well as the modern
evolution of this system. Thereafter is a reference to its evolution and its consequences. It takes
the position that the modern practice of dowry is actually the product of economic and socio-
cultural processes and modern-day dowry is a relatively recent transformation into a means of
extortion by the groom and his family, having no religious justification. Subsequently, this paper
analyzes relevant Indian positive laws currently in place to prevent dowry deaths while the next
part examines the reasons behind the unenforceability behind these laws. A chapter quantifies the
phenomenon of dowry death and highlights the contemporary statistics. The last chapter
comprises of certain suggestions and conclusions.
Contemporary Problems within the Dowry System. With the introduction of a capitalist
system into India, the old customs of dowry have been perverted ‘from a strongly spun safety net
and twisted into a deadly noose.” Dowry is no longer a venerable tradition, but has become a
cultural force aimed at preserving male dominance and female subjugation. Women, in India
today, are treated like chattel, their shackles being poor education, economic dependence, limited
political power, harsh social conventions, and inequality in the eyes of the law. Violence is the
key instrument that keeps these shackles on.
The underlying causes of violence connected to dowry are complex and multifaceted. Under
British colonial rule, a cash economy was introduced and the notion of dowry, like many
 Singh |5

structures of pre-capitalist India, became severely distorted. With the changing socio-economic
structure, as families struggled under the burden of heavy land taxes, dowry-giving changed
shape and meaning, eventually becoming a modern monstrosity that people attempted to
legitimate “by linking it up with an ancient and respected custom.” As cash became more
important, the religious value of the woman and her dowry diminished and with it the esteem in
which women were once regarded.
Quantifying Dowry-Related Violence. In the mid 1970’s dowry murders began to be
identified as result of the women’s movement and human rights groups exposing the system
when it was realized that there were an abnormal increase in the number of “accidental kitchen
deaths” of young married women. They have since escalated to alarming proportions. However,
an accurate picture is difficult to obtain, as the statistics are often varied and contradictory, given
a serious problem of underreporting. In 1975, when first reported, the average number of dowry-
murders per day was 12. However, deaths in India related to dowry have increased fifteen-fold
since the mid-1980s from 400 a year to approximately 5,800 a year. In 1993, CBS News’ Sixty
Minutes broadcast entitled “The Year of the Woman”, reported that in the capital city of India, a
woman is burned to death every 12 hours for dowry purposes. During the first ten months of
1991, the government of India released a figure of 2,771 dowry deaths which was an increase
over the previous year. However that figure could be higher since the government only accounts
for “registered” cases. For all of 1991, there were 5,000 reported dowry murders, usually by fire
designed to look like a cooking accident.
India is a very strongly entrenched patriarchal society where woman have low political
significance. It is estimated that through neglect, abortion, and infanticide, over 22 million
Indian women are missing. A 1990 United Nations survey conducted sex determinations for
8,000 legal abortions in the city of Bombay. The survey showed that of all the foetuses, only one
baby boy was aborted. The last census in India was taken in 1991, coinciding with the 60
Minutes report, and showed that there were 929 women to 1,000 men. This was a decline from
the 1981 census, which showed a ratio of 934 females to every 1,000 males. Compared with
India’s population of 850 million in 1993, these numbers are overwhelming. Government
statistics taken in 1992 for all of India confirmed this trend, indicating there were 4,785 dowry-
related deaths. In 1995, the National Crime Bureau of the Government of India estimated that
about 6,000 dowry deaths occur every year. Finally in 1997, police reports National Crime
Records Bureau stated that the number of dowry-related deaths experienced were one-hundred
 Singh |6

and seventy percent over that of the previous decade. Even so, these official figures are
considered to be a gross understatement of the actual situation; unofficial estimates put the
number of deaths at 25,000 women a year.
It is impossible to determine exactly how many dowry deaths occur each year because of
notorious underreporting, cases being labeled as suicides or as accidental by the police, and
judicial discretion in the classifying of cases. According to official records, only 403 dowry
murders occurred in the capital city of New Delhi between 1982 and 1986. But women’s
organizations in the city collected data on about 500 cases in 1985 alone. Furthermore, according
to a report by the National commission for Women, it is estimated that a women is burnt to death
every 10 minutes over a dowry dispute.
Geographical Distribution of Dowry-Related Violence. In places where there has
traditionally been an absence of the caste or dowry-based marriage system, such as the tribal
communities of the far-east Indian states or predominantly caste-free Muslim, Christian, or
Buddhist majority areas, deaths related to dowry violence are minimal.
The epicenter of dowry-related violence and deaths is in the capital city of Delhi, western and
central Uttar Pradesh, and areas adjoining Delhi, such as Haryana, northeastern Rajasthan,
northern Madhya Pradesh, and southern Punjab. New Delhi alone reported an increase in dowry
deaths from seventeen in 1980 to 110 in 1989,305 almost 650% over the course of 9 years.
The most probable factors influencing the growth of dowry related violence are: the impact of
the joint family system, social and religious pressure on parent to get their daughters married as
early as possible, desire of the lower castes to emulate and adopt the ways of the higher castes,
societal attitude accepting dowry giving and taking as a matter of status and social prestige.
The following measures can be taken to eradicate the evil of dowry death from its root.
Social and Economical measures. Public opinion against the magnitude and gravity of dowry
deaths should be mobilized through various agencies. An effective co-operation should be sought
between the non-government voluntary and law-enforcing agencies to prevent and control crimes
against women expeditiously. Social boycott of those tainted boys and their families in future
marriage negotiations by the society. Costly and ostentatious marriage rituals should be
discouraged by society and preferably a ban on such marriages is imposed by government.
Newly wedded couples should be allowed to live separately from their in-laws during first few
formative years of their marriage. If at all family disputes or bickering are quite frequent.
 Singh |7

Effective measures for promoting education among the women and creating more job potentials
to make them economically independent and free.
Legal and Administrative measures. More strict laws should be framed for offenders of
dowry deaths and use of various explosive and inflammable materials and poisons to prevent
unnatural female deaths. Enacting laws with more teeth against torture of housewives by their
husbands and or in-laws. Inquest by a magistrate or a senior police officer should be
compulsorily done in all cases of unnatural female deaths of this age group especially in burn
cases and existing laws should be strictly adhered to. Members of women protection cells should
be given special training and adequate and sufficient facilities with more-staff, social workers,
counselors, and women police personnel besides separate space for housing such cells. Special
courts preferably with women judges should be created to try the cases expeditiously. Separate
burn-wards should be established with modern facilities in the hospitals to treat such patients
intensively by the trained health staff.
Coclusion. An attempt has been made not only to review the entire ambit relating to dowry
laws and the judicial attitudes surrounding it, but also to determine the social realities faced in
the handling of these cases. In the final analysis, the most crucial element of a dowry death case
is a woman's inability to effectively resist her in-laws' demands and, if necessary, to leave a
marriage which causes her humiliation. In Indian society, there is a culture of silence that
reinforces an oppressive pressure to keep the marriage going at all costs. This effectively keeps
women in abusive homes. Hence, dowry and the increasing demands related to it are not the sole
exterminators of women in this country. Instead, it is the unjust social pressure placed on women
to stay in abusive, unwelcome homes when their lives are clearly in danger.
Another disturbing trend is the urgency with which the husband gets married to another
woman, after the unnatural deaths of his first wife. Almost invariably, this happens while the
husband is on bail. In the famous Sudha Goel case, the husband, while out on bail, marriage
again and even had two children before he went into jail to complete a term for life. The mother-
in-law, when asked whether the second wife had got any dowry with her, said that she was
satisfied with the dowry. What is terrifying in this scenario is the calm acceptance by the second
family of a man who is charged with the murder of his first wife, and the willingness with which
the bride's parents marry her off to him.
Keeping in mind the social realities it is only pragmatic to assume that the dowry system
will be with us for quite some time to come; people will continue to give and take dowry
 Singh |8

regardless of statutes purporting to prohibit such transactions. But by strengthening the

provisions prohibiting the demand for dowry, particularly those made after the marriage, and by
concentrating on the property that passes at the time of these transactions, it should be possible to
ensure that the property goes to the woman and unequivocally remains with her. Increasing the
economic independence and the power of women by putting her in control of the property that
passes in dowry transactions will improve the bride's bargaining power and status in her
matrimonial home.
It is imperative that the right interpretations be given to the provisions of criminal laws
relating to violence against women in the context of specific facts and circumstances. Male
oriented interpretations which lack feminist insights and perceptions can lead to increase in
dowry deaths. A recent Bombay High Court judgment stated that it is not that every harassment
or every type of cruelty that could attract Section 498-A and that it must be established that the
beating or harassment was with a view to force the wife to commit suicide or to fulfill the illegal
demands of the husband or the in-laws. In another case, the same High Court held that occasional
cruelty and harassment cannot be construed as cruelty under Section 498-A. In this case the
deceased was burnt to death when the husband was present in the house. There had been several
demands for dowry. When the deceased had given birth to a daughter she was left behind at her
parents' house and her in-laws refused to accept the new-born daughter. Despite these facts the
Bombay High Court came to the above decision.
Given the limits of criminal law, the future of dowry laws necessarily depends on
community action, public legal education and sensitizing all levels of the implementation
agencies. Perhaps the most important aspect of combating violence against women in our
society is providing equal education and increasing economic opportunities for them and
encouraging, women to expose atrocities against them. Voluntary organizations have a crucial
role to play as they have the experience and strategic capacity to provide victimized women with
the support services needed to pursue legal action. Furthermore, meaningful programs of legal
services- to enforce dowry laws should include Dowry Prohibition Officers to serve as agents in
organizing legal action in collaboration with the women's organizations and in further
developing the family courts as a judicial system for gender justice. It would take nothing short
of a small miracle to get the one billion inhabitants of India to stop using dowry in marriage.
 Singh |9

Works Cited

Beri, B.P., Commentaries on the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, 17 (Eastern Book Company,

1988). Print.

Beri, B.P., Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961,127, (Lucknow: Eastern Book Company 1988). Print.

Desai, Neera, and Maithereyi Krishnaj. Women and Society in India. (New Delhi: Ajanta

Publications, 1990). Print.

Ghadially, Rehana and Kumar, Pramod, Bride Burning: The psycho-social dynamics of dowry

deaths, 169, (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1988). Print.

Grover, Kanta, Burning Flesh, 6, (New Delhi: Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., 1990. Print.

Hate, Anandrao & Chandrakala, Changing Status of Women in Post-independence India, (New

Delhi: Allied Publishers Private Limited, 1969). Print.

Achar, M.R. & Venkanna, T., Dowry Prohibition Act & Rules, 2, (1986). 31 May. 2006. Web. 6

Apr. 2014

Anshu Nangia, The Tragedy of Bride Burning in India: How Should the Law Address It?, 22

Brook. J. Int’l L. 637, 642 (1997). Print.

Banerjee, Kakoli, Gender Stratification and the Contemporary Marriage Market in India,

Journal of Family Issues 20, 5 (1999), 648-676. 4 Aug. 2010. Web. 6 Apr. 2014