Dowry Death

The most common culture of the western part of the world is that a boy meets a girl, both fall in love and they get married. Though India has developed in various aspects but still in many families it holds the traditional concept of Arranged Marriage. The parents and the family members play an important role in case of arranged marriages. Then when the marriage becomes final the boy's family come to the point of, how much gold, cash and other articles the bride's parents can provide to their daughter. Though it is not common now a days but in many parts of India it is a common practice and that leads to Dowry System. 

As far as I know Dowry system in India is prevalent since the Vedic period. In the Epic period the gifts from parents, brothers and relatives at the time of marriage are considered as the property of the woman better known as Stridhan. Dowry as a consequence of the ancient religious custom of Hindu marriages for maintaining caste hierarchy are not the only consideration for marriage today. At present in India several factors have reinforced the evil custom of dowry. Now not only the higher caste but the higher education of the bridegroom demands more money. Isn't it sounding strange? But its true. In some parts of India like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh & Punjab, an IAS Officer as a groom will demand more dowry and thus now there have been grades of dowry for different grades of profession & qualification. Receiving dowry for a son's marriage and giving dowry for a daughter's marriage have become a social status of the family and the only scapegoat in the whole process is the bride. 

So in India it is a common practice that after a girl child is born, her parents starts accumulating gold for her marriage and they start the savings that can be used at the time of her marriage and this way, the birth of a girl child seemed to be expensive to the family. This has again lead to another social issue of killing female foeticide. Modern day technology has made easier to this job of determining the sex of the fetus before birth and taking advantage of this technology many parents kill the female fetus. Despite of the acts & regulations there are several private clinics which are performing this act of sex determination privately against a huge amount of money. Its so horrifying. How could parents kill their own child, the little one, before he could see mother earth? 

Among those who have born in the heavenly earth, some have to sacrifice their lives later at the hands of their in-laws. It is a common picture in India that when the bride' s parents are not in a position to meet the greedy needs of their in-laws even after marriage, the brides are tortured both physically & mentally by their in-laws. A very common practice of killing the bride in India is bride-burning, when a young woman is murdered by her husband or his family for her family's refusal to pay additional dowry. The wife is typically doused with kerosene, gasoline or other flammable liquid, and set alight, leading to death by fire.

Whenever I read about bride burning in newspapers or watch such cases on television I remember an incident that occurred in our locality several years ago. I was in school that time. I couldn't forget that frightful night when we suddenly heard someone crying and shouting very badly. We were having dinner that time. My father came out of the house. Few people also came out hearing that noise. Everyone was saying that a young lady  residing in one of the houses very near to ours, has been burned. Rumors were that it was an accident while she went to prepare tea for her in-laws, the stove burst, which is usually a very common lie people use to say. 

But later we came to know that it was not an accident. The father of the bride made a complaint against her in-laws and after investigation it was found to be a murder planned by the husband and the mother-in-law. And the cause of the murder was dowry. The husband and her in-laws demanded a huge sum of money after marriage which the father of the bride was unable to pay and from then onwards the torture started and finally ended in the death of that young innocent woman. And the sound we heard that night was that of this young lady who was taken to the terrace by her husband and mother-in-law, doused with kerosene and put to fire. Not only that they locked the door of the terrace from outside so that she could not escape and let her die. How cruel man could be? Is this called civilization? Is it not a shame for human being? 

We were more shocked to know that the young lady was pregnant. The child didn't came to know that his own family members killed him and his mother. Though I was very young that time but that incident left me shattered. I couldn't sleep for few nights. Still I could remember her smiling face. 

India has a number of cases every year of bride burning. However, a lot of cases do not get reported to the police so an exact number can not be recorded. But fortunately in this case, both the husband and the mother-in-law were arrested and punished. They were sentenced to jail and the old lady died in jail after a few days. 

Though several acts and laws  have been enacted to curb the Dowry System, it is our inner conscience that can stop this evil custom and save lives of thousands of young women from death.