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Sociology of Kinship

Notes

It is dowry which has given birth to social-evils like child marriages, family
disintegration, burden of loan, low life-style, polygamy, mismatched marriages,
immorality crime, corruption and various forms of mental diseases. It is because
of dowry only that the birth of a female child (daughter) is considered a
unfavourable.

Because of the social and economic hardships, Dowry has become a major temptation. The
dowry demands include dishes, (Utensils) Jewelry, refrigerator, car, air conditioner apart from
money. The parents the dowry, thinking it will raise their daughter’s status and give her finan-
cial security. But the desire for high social status and security for their daughter, puts the parents
in a state of insecurity, where they have to fulfill such demands which are beyond their financial
capacity and that burdens them with loan. Today, the dowry system is found to be prevalent in
those castes too, in which it never existed. Because of dowry, boys are auctioned and whosoever
pays the highest amount gets the best bet.

27.2 Dowry

Dowry poses a major problem for women. In the recent years, there were many incidents of
death of young married women, which were termed as dowry deaths. The social service organi-
sations raised their voices against the issue of dowry and protested against it. The new of young
married women being killed or their committing suicide became the daily news headlines, Be-
cause of the pressure, Dowry prohibition Act, 1961 and 1984 were amended. Another amend-
ment took place in 1986. By this Act, the court had the power to prosecute the dowry accused on
behalf of any registered welfare organisation or on the basis of its own knowledge. The dowry
related offence were declared non-bailable in order to have a fair investigation. A new article
has been added to the Indian Penal Code that is called dowry death. For avoid evidence proof:
there are some amendments have been done int he Indian Evidence Act also. In case a married
woman dies within seven year of her marriage, under mysterious circumstances, her husband
and in-laws are held responsible for providing proof. A dowry prohibition officer should be ap-
pointed and a committee should be set up to look into the dowry related issues. To deal with the
dowry issues effectively, an antidowry cell has been established.
In this book, we have mentioned elsewhere that the issue of dowry is not related to all the
women of the country. Firstly, the fierce form of this custom is prevalent in higher castes only.
Amongst the higher castes too, the ‘Vaishya’ castes are the major victims. There is not doing
system in the lower castes. From the regional point of view too, this custom is more prevalent in
the Hindu castes of the North. The Southern region is the least affected. In the North East where
there is large tribal population, it does not exist. There the bride-value system is prevalent. The
dowry custom is not found amongst Muslims, Tribals, Christians and Parsis.

Self Assessment
Fill in the blanks:
1. ___________ raised their voices and protested against the issue of dowry.
2. There had been some ___________ in the Indian witness Act, so that an individual does not
have to take the trouble of producing witness.
3. The issue of dowry is not related to __________ women of the country.

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