To Be Given by The Bride To The Groom or by The Groom To The Bride and It Further

With the dawn of space age, mankind, especially India, has made astonishing advancement
showing that even the vast expanses of galaxies are not out of reach for our species. On one
side of the scale we are the largest democracies with a fast growing GDP and a large pool of
resources (human as well as natural) but that’s not all. There is an ugly side to our society.
One that is unknown and scarcely discussed- The much prevalent social evil- Dowry.
A very brilliant morning to all. I am Sai Varshith and I am about to

vehemently( vee.uh.ment.ly) express my views on Dowry Deaths believing it to be a curse.
Before we proceed further, I would like to shed some light on what exactly dowry is! Well
according to Wikipedia- Dowry is any property or valuable security given or agreed
to be given by the bride to the groom or by the groom to the bride and it further
elaborates- Dowry deaths as deaths of married women who are murdered or driven
to suicide by continuous harassment and torture by their husbands and in-laws over
a dispute about their dowry and L&G it is a crime by law and one of a very heinous
nature. But historically speaking Dowry was meant to be a gift to the bride and her
in-laws as a token of love but who knew a mere gift would lead as a pawn for
expectations and unforetold brutalities. As rightly said Greed is the root cause of all
evils and hence this social evil has emerged as the worst of all crimes
One might think that these cases are only a rural phenomenon but they are greatly
mistaken. The menace has caught up with the metropolitan elites those who are
considered educated civil and well to do. Hence we can bury the misconception that
education can totally eradicate this social evil. To further lend support to the cause
the cases in the state of Kerala-a state having the highest literacy rate- has reported
a staggering 200 annual dowry death cases which is almost equal to the amounted
of reports flooding in from states with low literacy rates like Rajasthan and Uttar
Pradesh. It’s disheartening to know that such deaths account for almost 40-50% of
all female homicides in India that accounts for an average of 8500 deaths per year
(which is just a fraction of the actual reported deaths) which amounts to roughly 1.4
deaths per 100000 women one of the highest among other developing nation.
My (opponent) might say here – that if the crime is so brute why are the punishments so
meek? L&G here as a counter I would like to shed some light on Indian Penal codes
regarding the Dowry and Dowry Deaths namely 304B and 498A. 304B defines Dowry Death
as follows: “Where the death of a woman is caused by any burns or bodily injury or occurs
otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of her marriage and it is
shown that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her
husband or any relative of her husband for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry,
such death shall be called “dowry death”, and such husband or relative shall be deemed to
have caused her death and Whoever commits dowry death shall be punished with
imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than seven years but which may extend to
imprisonment for life whereas the 498A states: “ Whoever, being the husband or the
relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished
with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to
fine.”
Cases: L&G based on these above said laws I would like to mention Pawan Kumar And Ors vs
State of Haryana -9 Feb 1998 and its judgment. Here the appellant 1 is the husband and his
deceased wife. The wife soon moved back to her parents house within a few days of
marriage complaining about the demands of dowry for refrigerator, scooter etc. and when
the demands were not fulfilled she was subjugated to face torture and verbal harassment
and taunts leading the wife to commit suicide by burn injuries. The case were registered
against the accused namely her husband and in-laws. In court the learned counsel of
appellant argued that there is no offence committed here as it does not fulfil the essential
ingredients of section 304B of IPC and no evidence was found out that soon before her
death the deceased in any way. L&G here two major issues arouse firstly, Whether she was
really subjected to any cruelty or harassment soon before her death and the same was in
connection with her demand for dowry.
Secondly, Whether the demand asked for a refrigerator, scooter etc. is a desire to acquire or
a dowry demand.
Finally it was held that by the court that demand for dowry itself is an offence and he was
held guilty under 304B and 498A and was sentenced to 7 and 3 years imprisonment with
fine to be run simultaneously.
Now one might say that these laws are women centric and can and have been used as a
weapon by the women to satisfy their needs and ego. There is some weight to this
argument considering that they have violated Article 14 of the Indian Constitution which
says Equality before law irrespective of gender. I agree according to this these laws do
violate the right to equality to males but we should keep in mind that these laws were
created at a time when males were considered superior and hence the need. But laws
should be ever dynamic and must keep pace with the evolving social milieu. Laws
should be amended in tune with the new normal and these change in these laws can
be brought by lawyers. Lawyers have the power to argue before the court about the
demerits of not making these laws gender neutral. They have the opportunity to
initiate the change and stop egoistic women from harming the purity of the
institution by misusing the laws that are supposed to act as a shield. Before making
amendments, a solution to this issue should be created. The court should create
mandatory guidelines regarding the misuse. These guidelines shall be followed by
every lawyer before prosecuting the male and make sure that no misuse is taking
place. If the solution is not proportionate and powerful enough to stop the misuse,
the only way is to amend. Secondly, there is a dire need to spread awareness
amongst the general population about these laws as ignorance of laws is just as
punishable which can be easily done through mass media campaigns and programs.
Hence to conclude I would like to stress that even though some amends are needed
in these laws in lieu of changing times but the undeniable fact remains that DOWRY
DEATHS IS A BIG CURSE and it needs to end.

To Be Given by The Bride To The Groom or by The Groom To The Bride and It Further

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With the dawn of space age, mankind, especially India, has made astonishing advancement

A very brilliant morning to all. I am Sai Varshith and I am about to

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