Dowry System Essay in English Essay on Dowry System
Dowry System Essay in English Essay on Dowry System
Dowry System Essay in English Essay on Dowry System : Dowry System Essay: Dowry system essay is one of the important essay topic that can be asked in board school exams or any competitive exams. The students, child etc. searching for the Dowry System Essay will get long and short Essay on Dowry System. Here our team updated and clears all the topics in a very easy and effective manner.
INTRODUCTION:
Dowry System Essay in English Essay on Dowry System :Dowry, or dahej in Arabic, can be described as goods, cash or property provided by bride’s parents or guardians or relatives to the groom, his parents, guardians or relatives against the marriage to be held.
It is a common tradition to five cash, jewellery, furniture, crockery, electrical appliances, bedding, vehicles, utensils and other household commodities as gifts to the newly wedded couple. The groom’s family or relatives are blessed with gifts too and named as token of respect and love.
Dowry is regarded as an age old practice and sort of tradition and custom. However, the scholars and writes are on different set of thought. Some scholars like Michael Witzel believed that during Vedic period, dowry system was not practiced.
That time, women have property inheritance right and they take away their rightful property with them after marriage. The bride’s were beautified with dress and jewellery to celebrate marriage and along with their own rightful property; they used to depart to their in-laws.
Those properties were not of his father’s or brother’s, but hers and it was neither a gift to newly-wed, nor demanded by the groom’s family.
The dowry system, nowadays, has changed its shape and it’s regarded as a compulsory tradition for bride’s parents. The burden to meet the demands of groom and his family is in bride’s family and it weakens the financial condition of her parents.
The dowry system, somewhere, leads to crime too, ranging from emotional and mental abuse to physical injury and death. The bride’s parents are first forced to provide high dowry to the groom, depending upon the financial stability of groom, and if same is not fulfilled by her parents, the marriage may be called of or the bride have to face vocal and Physical abuse afterwards.
The Dowry Prohibited Act, 1961 and two sections of India Penal Code prohibit the practice of dowry in society and strict actions have to be taken on violation of the act and its sections.
CAUSES OF DOWRY:
The dowry system may be caused by economic, social and religious factors.
Several economic factors contribute towards the practice of dowry system. The major among them is the inheritance system and economic state of bride. Previously, women have no right over parental and ancestral property, which leads to her dependence on her husband and in-laws after marriage.
This no economic stability leads to the demand of dowry by groom and his family. However, after the legalized inclusion of daughters in inherited property, this system is still prevailing, as a custom and a mandate provision of marriage.
The form has been changed and same is named as gifts in the modern era.
The structure of marriage itself acts as a social cause of prevailing dowry system. As bride has to move to the groom’s house, where bride’s family members are excluded, dowry is given to provide financial and economical stability to their daughter in her new house.
However, social custom, mindset of people and expectations from bride’s family are more prominent factors than marriage custom. The groom’s family expects dowry in the form of gifts. They think it as a mandatory social custom and feel no worry to practice it proudly.
Social customs are often backed up by religious factors. It is widely spread among Hindus, Muslims and other religions. In muslims, jahed and Mahr are some of the form of dowry, which are compulsory to be paid of. The religious gurus, priests or mullas plays a major role in practicing of dowry system.
DOWRY RELATED CRIMES:
Married women, as a social practice, have to leave their parental home and stay at her in-laws. They are dependent on groom and his family for her social and economic needs.
Hence, they are easily targeted for violence to extract property from her parental house. The women have to face I’ll treatment, might get locked and turn into a hostage at her in-laws, may face emotional and mental breakdown, may have to face vocal and mental abuse too.
The surveys show that the violence can leads to suicidal attempt or murder of bride by groom’s family. In order to protect their daughter, the bride’s family has to bow down before demands of groom’s family and they are left with no choice than to give more dowry as and when demanded.
The dominant types of crimes includes
- Fraud
- Domestic violence
- Abetment to suicide
- Cruelty, and,
- Murder
Fraud includes marriage with the sole purpose of dowry money or Property. The people from cities, towns or foreign countries, visits villages and with their show off of big house and property abroad got married. They abandon the bride and flew away with the dowry.
Domestic violence is widely practiced in almost all the areas. Women are emotionally, physically, vocally, economically, and sexually harassed and violated in order to gain more dowry from her parents.
The abuse and harassment by the husband and his family, may lead a woman into desperate and helpless situation, where only way to get rid of torture is death. They used to commit suicide as she can’t bear daily violation any longer. This is also a crime as she was encouraged and provoked to attempt suicide.
Cruelty is somewhat related to domestic violence, where she is harassed and forced to demand more dowry from her parents. Dowry murder us widely practiced, when despite of several abuse, no more dowry is being given to the groom’s family.
The dissatisfaction with the dowry leads to the heinous act of murder. Most of the time, the bride is sent to fire or hanged, and same was named as suicide, to get away from legal action.
GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE:
IN 1961, the Dowry Prohibition Act was passed, which effectively prohibits the giving and taking of dowry. However, it is still been practiced in many parts of India under common parlance.
New provisions were added to the Indian Criminal law to strengthen the law of anti-dowry.
In 2005, new act, Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act was enacted and provides additional protection to the women suffering from harassment because of dowry system.
These laws are strict in nature and actions are taken against person who violets its rules and regulations.
CONCLUSION:
In spite of anti-dowry laws the practice of dowry and linked crimes continues and it is a question mark on the enforcement of law.
The public poll shows that laws are vague and their enforcement by police and court are inappropriate. Because of lack of evidence, the bride and her family can’t prove any crime and another party gets away easily even after murder as no one of outside world neither was involved in crime, nor watched any violence beforehand.
Moreover, in Indian society, there is an unsaid rule that women should not disclose so called family matters to the outside world, rather endure the abuse and keep herself mum.
These societal and moral grounds are hollow and educated group should come and stand for these women and against this social evil. The women, on the other hand, should be made aware of their rights and persisted laws, and stand against any type of abuse as they have equal right to live their life peacefully and respectfully.
Also Read: Woman Empowerment Essay