source acquired from books and video . PUBLICE BY - SARDAR PATEL UNIVERSITY OF POLICE SECURITY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE..JODHPUR, RAJASTHAN, INDIA

1. Dowry
System
By :- Anil Kumar , Ummeda Ram
To :- Dr.Kanika Pawar

2. Dowry :-
– The word ‘DOWRY’ means the property and
money that a bride brings to her husband’s house
at the time of her marriage.

3. Facts about Dowry
– Middle-class women suffer a higher rate of victimization than
lower-class or upper-class women;
– About 70 per cent victims belong to 21-24 years age group, that is,
they are mature not only physically but socially and emotionally
also;
– The problem is more an upper-caste phenomenon than a lower-
caste problem;
– Before an actual murder, several forms of harassment/humiliation
are used against the young brides which show the chaotic pattern of
social behavior of the members of the victim's family;

4. Facts about Dowry
– The most important sociological factor in the causation of dowry
death is the offender's environmental stress or social tensions caused
by factors endogenous and exogenous to his family, and the
important psychological factor is the killer's authoritarian
personality, dominant nature, and his personality maladjustment;
– No correlation exists between the level of education of the girl and
her murder committed for dowry; and
– The composition of a family plays a crucial role in bride burning
cases.

5. Advantages of Dowry System in India.
• Dowry helps newly married couple to establish
their family.
• Promotes Inter-caste, inter religion and inter-
state marriage.
•Acts as a provident fund: To face many financial
hazards in future

6. Number of reasons exist behind the
tradition of dowry in India.
– Lack of Property Rights for Women in Indian tradition:-women as a part of
the household,
– Patre-linear and Patre-local society in India:-Male dominated society, a
male centric view.
– The Centrality of Marriage:-marriage as central to the life, An unmarried
woman is seen as a source of ill luck to the family and is generally
mistreated. Thus women are encouraged to marry as soon as possible, even
if she does not have any economic independence.
– Dowry practice enhances psychological tension: parents always remain
worried and tensed in arranging money required to pay in dowry for
daughter’s marriage. Girls are ill-treated even after the payment of dowry.
So they spoil their mental peace .

9. Evil effects of Dowry System
•IN poor families sometimes the father of an young bride
had to take loan from the bank to pay the demand of a
groom:-Dowry causes great economic burden on
bride’s family
•Sometimes young brides commit suicide for the torture..
• Increases corrupt attitude of parents:-They undertake
unsocial activities like smuggling or earn by unfair means.
• Dowry system makes imbalance in the sex ratio : Parent
of poor families kill their daughter from their vary birth or
at the stage of fetuses in their mother’s womb.

10. Dowry as part of marriage consideration is
prohibited by law in India. The Dowry Prohibition Act,
1961 was enacted to help the women who are victim of
Dowry System.

12. Solution
Empowerment:- Economic empowerment, social empowerment- A
woman should be able to make her own decisions about marriage,
children, sex or anything related to her life.
Family:- Husband's family is considered as her real family.
Caste:- By creating artificial restrictions against the choice of
partners available to women, Elimination of these barriers of caste
would surely go a long way into creating a sustainable solution
from dowry.
 workshops, fairs, cultural and training programmes, seminars

13. Number of Dowry deaths in India
• The figure of deaths in India due to non payment or partial payment
of dowry could be placed around five thousand for one year.
• The increase in incidents of dowry offences inevident form the fact
that against 6851 cases of dowry deaths in the country in 2001, 8233
cases were reported in 2012 .
• The number of cases of cruelty by husband and in laws, as stated
earlier, was reported to be 1,06,527 in 2012.
• In Lok Sabha, Women and Child Development Ministry Maneka
Gandhi said that 8,233, 8,083, and 8,455 cases were registered under
section 304B of the Indian Penal Code (Dowry Death) in the country
in 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively.

14. As per National Crime Records Bureau data,
the country has recorded 3.48 lakh cases of
cruelty by husband or his relative and West
Bengal tops the chart with 61,259 such cases
in past three years, followed by Rajasthan
(44,311) and Andhra Pradesh (34,835).