Dowry system....A social evil

Introduction

Here.... I am talking about a very much prevalent and a dreadful social evil.... DOWRY System. It has been huge problem in India and has been a great problem and source of embarrassment and disturbances in most parts of our society...

Dowry actually is a cultural system where the parents of the bride give away some money, expensive gifts to her so that in case of lack of resources she can lead a comfortable life ahead after marriage. Historically, this system was willingly followed by the parents of the bride in many parts of the world, but now at many places (especially in India) it is it is being forcefully asked for. Earlier the system was prevalent only in the wealthier families but now unfortunately the greed of dowry has struck to most ordinary families and has become an unspoken demand for marriages.

It is true that a young man may require financial support to settle comfortably in his life and to fulfill other needs, but it should not be a reason to ask for dowry and to spoil the life of a girl if both the girl and boy are capable in all the ways to earn and settle with a comfortable life. Gifts that a girl gets from her parents home should solely be their wish and there should be no pressure to spend more while marrying their daughter. There are many instances when a wife commits suicide, because of her helplessness to tolerate the harassment for dowry. There are many instances when a wife is murdered because her parents were not able to give enough dowry. This murder is usually made like an accident. Stop violence against women! Legally, dowry is a banned practice in India but still happens all over the place. Many sensible and educated youths have gone against the idea of Dowry and they simply have a noble intention of marrying the without taking any money. Surprisingly, these days the ladies are themselves very much interested for huge amounts of dowry. Firstly the promise of all the marriage arrangements and then the huge amounts of dowry make the parents financially very weak and because of dowry system, people no longer prefer having a baby girl in India.

Dowry law in India
Dowry was prohibited in 1961 under Indian civil law and followed by Sections 304B and 498a of the Indian Penal Code. Individuals involved in dowry can be sent to jail for 6 months to 3 years. This includes husband, Father-In-Law, Mother-In-Law or any other relatives or non-relatives found guilty. It can also include fine. But if a murder is committed then there is at least a 7 year or life in prison, plus fine.

People contact police, media organizations and women liberation outfits to get maximum attention and this way ladies misuse this law by accusing boy’s family wrongly for dowry because of some personal tensions. This becomes very problematic for the family who faces.

Lastly I would just say that like I am strictly against this practice of dowry every one of us should join hands and remove this social evil from our society……

Take care and have a great time…..