Dowry as an Exercise of Exploitation Despite Prohibition

Abstract

A custom that is being swaddled as a practice of gifting women for financial security after their marriage or for building a strong bond between both the families is making the patriarchal behaviour stronger and is deleterious to the bride and her family. According to the report of the National crime record bureau, one dowry death every hour at rock bottom. The Asian women human rights commission states that the practice of dowry leads to death of around 25000 women between the ages of 15 and 34 years [1]. This harmful practice is continuing to persist in India in this 21st century which is not due to lack of legislation as the Indian legislature has passed Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. Domestic violence and cruelty occur against women when the receiving end is not satisfied with the dowry brought in. Regardless of having a law which prohibits dowry, nothing has stopped the nation from practising it. This study discusses in detail about the origin of the dowry system in India, its transformation over the period, the reason for bullheaded behaviour of society in not letting go of the practice in spite of being in aggrieved side, enactment of prohibition not in unison with Volksgeist theory.