INDEX

1. 2.

Definition of Dowry Dowry death

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

History of dowry death What is sati? Reasons for sati The history behind sati Theories of origin Occurrence Bride burning 304B of offence

10. Section

11. Classification 12. Burden

of proof ingredients between 304B and 498A

13. Essential

14. Difference 15. Scope 16. Unnatural 17. Statistics

death

18. Conclusion 19. Endnotes 20. Bibliography

Dowry death in India

INTRODUCTION

Dowry :- Dowry or Dahej is the payment in cash or/and kind by the bride's family to the bridegroom' s family along with the giving away of the bride ( called Kanyadaan) in Indian marriage . Kanyadanam is an important part of Hindu marital rites. Kanya means daughter, and Dana means gift. Dowry originated in upper caste families as the wedding gift to the bride from her family. The dowry was later given to help with marriage expenses and became a form of insurance in the case that her in-laws mistreated her. Although the dowry was legally prohibited in 1961, it continues to be highly institutionalized. The groom often demands a dowry consisting of a large sum of money, farm animals, furniture, and electronics. The practice of dowry abuse is rising in India. The most severe in bride burning, the burning of women whose dowries were not considered sufficient by their husband or in-laws. Most of these incidents are reported as accidental burns in the kitchen or are disguised as suicide. It is evident that there exist deep rooted prejudices against women in India. Cultural practices such as the payment of dowry tend to subordinate women in Indian society. Though prohibited by law in 1961, the extraction of dowry from the bride's family prior to marriage still occurs. When the dowry amount is not considered sufficient or is not forthcoming, the bride is often harassed, abused and made miserable. This abuse can escalate to the point where the husband or his family burn the bride, often by pouring kerosene on her and lighting it, usually killing her. The official records of these incidents are low because they are often reported as accidents or suicides by the family.

Dowry death
Dowry deaths are the deaths of young women who are murdered or driven to suicide by continuous harassment and torture by husbands and in-laws in an effort to extort an increased dowry. Dowry deaths are reported in various South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Dowry death is considered one

of the many categories of violence against women in South Asia.

History of dowry death

Self-immolation, particularly by wedded women, has been a perennial aspect of Indian culture. Since ancient times, the act of sati, has been viewed by Indian society as a respectful way for a recently widowed woman to illustrate dedication to her deceased husband. In recent times the deaths of Indian women by selfimmolation have been more frequently attributed to dowry conflicts.[1]."Burnt wives". Burns 29 (1): 3136. This historical pretext is only relevant to the cases of dowry death in which the victim claims her own life and does not account for those in which the victim is murdered by the grooms family.

What is sati?
Sati is the practice through which widows are voluntarily or forcibly burned alive on their husband's funeral pyre. It was banned in 1829, but had to be banned again in 1956 after a resurgence. There was another revival of the practice in 1981 with another prevention ordinance passed in 1987 (Morgan 1984). The idea justifying sati is that women have worth only in relation to men. This illustrates women's lack of status as individuals in India.

Reasons for Sati

A widow's status was looked upon as an unwanted burden that prevented her from participating in the household work. Her touch, her voice, her very appearance was considered unholy, impure and something that was to be shunned and abhorred. A woman was considered pure if she committed Sati.

The History Behind Sati

Sati, the wife of Daksha, was so overcome at the demise of her husband that she immolated herself on his funeral pyre. Sati was the consort of Lord Shiva. She burnt herself in fire as protest against her

father, Daksha did not give her consort Shiva the respect she thought he deserved.

Theories of Origin
Even though Sati is considered an Indian custom or a Hindu custom it was not practiced all over India by all Hindus but only among certain communities of India. Sacrificing the widow in her dead husband's funeral or pyre was not unique only to India. This custom was prevalent among Egyptians, Greek, Goths, and others.
Ramayana- Sita walks through fire to prove her purity. Mahabharata- Madri throws herself on her husband, Pandus fire. Outside Views Impact A few rulers of India like the Mughals, tried to ban this custom. Italian Traveler Pietro Della Valle (1586-1652) has documented the Sati

ritual that he witnessed in the town of Ikkeri in November of 1623. Colonel William. H. Sleeman (1809 - 1856 A.D.) served as the collector of Jabalpur.

Sati in the Modern times

In general, before this custom was outlawed in 1829, there were a few hundred officially recorded incidences each year. The efforts of Raja Rammohan Roy and other Hindu reformers greatly impacted the movement to outlaw this practice. Even after the custom was outlawed, this custom did not vanish completely. It took few decades before this custom almost vanished .In 1987 an eighteen years old

widow, Roop Kanwar, committed Sati in a village of Rajasthan .The 'Sati' version is that Roop told her father-in-law she wanted to commit Sati. Roop was forced to commit Sati. The case went to court, but no one was charged with her murder. Even in the year 2000, you hear about Sati occurring in rural villages.

Occurrence
Most dowry deaths occur when the young woman, unable to bear the harassment and torture, commits suicide. Most of these suicides are by hanging, poisoning or by fire. Sometimes the woman is killed by setting her on fire; this is known as "bride burning", and sometimes disguised as suicide or accident.

Bride burning
Bride-burning is a form of domestic violence, most common in South Asia, in which a bride is killed at home by her husband or husband's family due to his dissatisfaction over the dowry provided by her family. Kerosene is used as the fuel. [2] It has been a major problem since at least 1993.[3] It is not the same as ancient and long abolished (formally abolished in 1829) custom of Sati, where widowed women were forcibly placed on a burning pyre of the dead husband (usually a man in his old age) and burnt to death.[4] This crime has been treated as culpable homicide and if proven, is punishable accordingly (mostly up to death sentence or life imprisonment).[4] Bride burning has been recognized as an important public health problem in India.[5] It is a historical and cultural issue accounting for around 600-750 deaths per year in India alone.[5][need quotation to verify In 1995, Time Magazine reported that dowry deaths in India increased from around 400 a year in the early 1980s to around 5,800 a year by the middle of the 1990s.[6] A year later CNN ran a story saying that every year police receive more than 2,500 reports of bride burning.[7] According to Indian National Crime Record Bureau, there were 1,948 convictions and 3,876 acquittals in dowry death cases in 2008.[8]

Section 304B. Dowery death 304B. Dowry death: 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.

CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENCE PunishmentImprisonment of not less than 7 years but which may extend to imprisonment for lifeCognizableNon-bailableTriable by Court of Session Non-compoundable. Applicability It was argued that the husband or any of his relative could be guilty of the offence only if he or she directly participated in the actual commission of the offence. This contention was rejected by the Andhra Pradesh High Court. It observed that in its real import, section 304B of the Indian Penal Code would be applicable if cruelty or harassment was inflicted by the husband on any of his relative for, or in connection with demand for dowry, immediately preceding the death by bodily injury or by burning. In short she should have died in abnormal circumstances within seven years of the marriage. In such circumstances the husband or the relative, as the case may be, will be deemed to have caused her death and will be liable to punishment;[9].

Law relegating dowry death The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 Asking or giving of dowry can be punished by an imprisonment of up to six months, or a fine of up to Rs. 15000 IPC SECTION 406

This section, for offences related to Criminal Breach of Trust, is usually applied in investigation of Sridhar recovery from the husband and his family and punished with 3 yrs imprisonment and fine. IPC section 304 B. If anyone commits dowry death he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than seven years but which may extend to imprisonment for life. IPC SECTION 498-A Under this section one can punished upto three years. DOMESTIC VOILENCE ACT (2005/2006) For the purpose of this act, Domestic Violence includes the demand for dowry.

Burden of Proof The prosecution under section 304B of Indian Penal Code cannot escape from the burden of proof that the harassment to cruelty was related to the demand for dowry and such was caused soon before her death. The word dowry has to be understood as it is defined in section 2 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. Thus, there are three occasions related to dowry, i.e., before marriage, at the time of marriage and at an unending period. The customary payment in connection with the birth of child or other ceremonies, are not involved within ambit of dowry; [10] Dowry (i) Where the evidence revealed that accusedhusband killed deceasedwife for not satisfying his dowry demand but nothing on record to show involvement of coaccused in-laws with the offence committed by the accused, co-accused in-laws are not guilty of offence under sections 304B;[11] (ii) The parties were married on 24-5-1962. After staying in the matrimonial home for two months, she returned to her parents house and told them that her husband wanted a television set and a fridge. Her father gave her a sum of Rs. 6,000 and she left for the matrimonial home. Her husband again demanded a sum of Rs. 25,000

for purchasing a plot. Thereafter the husband took his wife to her parents home saying that he would not take her back unless a sum of Rs. 25,000 was paid to him. After one year he took her back but he did not give up the demand for Rs. 25,000. Soon thereafter she left for her parents home and came back with a sum of Rs. 15,000 with a promise that the rest of the amount would be paid later on. In her husbands home she died of strangulation. The trial court found the accused guilty. The death of the deceased took place within seven years of marriage and persistent demands of dowry were made on her and she died under mysterious circumstances. The trial court framed charge under section 304B. The Supreme Court held that no ground for quashing the charge was made out; [12] Essential ingredients To attract the provisions of section 304B, one of the main ingredients of the offence which is required to be established is that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty and harassment in connection with the demand of dowry; Prema S. Rao v. Yadla Srinivasa Rao, AIR 2003 SC 11. Expression soon before her death: meaning of The expression soon before her death used in the substantive section 304B, I.P.C. and section 113B of the Evidence Act is present with the idea of proximity text. No definite period has been indicated and the expression soon before her death is not defined. The determination of the period which can come within the term soon before is left to be determined by the courts, depending upon facts and circumstances of each case. Suffice, however, to indicate that the expression soon before would normally imply that the interval should not be much between the concerned cruelty or harassment and the death in question. There must be existence of a proximate and live-link between the effect of cruelty based on dowry demand and the concerned death. If alleged incident of cruelty is remote in time and has become stale enough not to disturb mental equilibrium of the woman concerned, it would be of no consequence;[13][14]

Presumption: Applicability (i) The presumption shall be raised only on proof of the following essentials:

(1) The question before the court must be whether the accused has committed the dowry death of a woman. (2) The woman was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or his relatives. (3) Such cruelty or harassment was for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry. (4) Such cruelty or harassment was soon before her death.[15] (ii) In dowry death cases and in most of such offences direct evidence is hardly available and such cases are usually proved by circumstantial evidence. This section as well as section 113B of the Evidence Act enact a rule of presumption, i.e., if death occurs within seven years of marriage in suspicious circumstances. This may be caused by burns or any other bodily injury. Thus, it is obligatory on the part of the prosecution to show that death occurred within seven years of marriage. If the prosecution would fail to establish that death did not occur within seven years of marriage, this section will not apply;[16][17]

Section 304B and Section 498A - Distinction Section 304B is a substantive provision creating a new offence and not merely a provision effecting a change in procedure for trial of a pre-existing substantive offence. As a consequence, accused cannot be tried and punished for the offence of dowry death provided in section 304B with the minimum sentence of seven years imprisonment for an act done by them prior to creation of the new offence of dowry death;

Scope (i) A perusal of section 304B clearly shows that if a married woman dies 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 in connection with demand for dowry, such death shall be called dowry death and such husband or relative shall be deemed to have caused the death. The conditions precedent for establishing an offence under this section are as follows:

(a) that a married woman had died otherwise than under normal circumstances; (b) such death was within seven years of her marriage; and (c) the prosecution has established that there was cruelty and harassment in connection with demand for dowry soon before her death;[18] . (ii) Offence under section 304B of the Indian Penal Code is triable by the Court of Session. It is a cognizable and non-bailable offence. The minimum punishment for the offence is seven years imprisonment which may extend to life imprisonment. Section 304B applies not only when death is caused by her husband or in-laws but also when death occurs unnaturally whoever might have caused it. The section will apply whenever the occurrence of death is preceded by cruelty or harassment by husband or in-laws for dowry and death occurs in unnatural circumstances. It may be emphasised that occurrence of death in such circumstances is enough though death might not have been in fact caused by the husband or in-laws. Thus the intention behind the section is to fasten death on the husband or in-laws though they did not in fact caused the death. Thus a fiction has been created. It is because in these circumstances, the misery and agony created thereby which compels the unfortunate married woman to end her life.

Unnatural death
In-laws insisted dowry demands on one married young woman. Ultimately, it

appeared that she was done to death and her body was cremated without sending any information to her parents or any relatives. The Supreme Court held that, if it was natural death, there was no need for the appellants to act in such unnatural manner and cremate the body in great and unholy haste without even informing the parents. In the result it was an unnatural death, either homicidal or suicidal. But even assuming that it is a case of suicide even then it would be death which had occurred in unnatural circumstances. Even in such a case, section 304B is attracted and this position is not disputed. Therefore, the prosecution has established that the appellants have committed an offence punishable under section 304B beyond all reasonable doubts;[19]

Statistics
In Delhi, a woman is burned to death almost every twelve hours . The number of dowry murders is increasing. In 1988, 2,209 women were killed in dowry related incidents and in 1990, 4,835 were killed . It is important to reiterate that these are official records, which are immensely under reported. The lack of official registration of this crime is apparent in Delhi, where ninety percent of cases of women burnt were recorded as accidents, five percent as suicide and only the remaining five percent were shown as murder . According to Government figures there were a total of 5,377 dowry deaths in 1993, an increase of 12% from 1992. Despite the existence of rigorous laws to prevent dowry-deaths under a 1986 amendment to the Indian Penal Code (IPC),convictions are rare, and judges (usually men) are often uninterested and susceptible to bribery. Recent newspaper reports have focused on the alarming rate of deaths of married women in Hamirpur, Mandi and Bilaspur districts in the state of Himachal Pradesh.

Conclusion
The purpose of dowry was to provide economical security for newly married couple. It is a contribution on behalf of wife, in order to establish a new family.

Men used to take dowries. But there was no dowry harassment or domestic violence. Unfortunately in the later years, men have accustomed to depend on asking and gradually demanding for dowries, and finally today it has turned into evil. The present amended section for dowry has taken many change .Although many amendment have taken place the are still dowry deaths in India. The government should amend strict punishment for the cause of the dowry death. The youth should be brought up with moral and ethical values, since infancy Men should be trained up in honoring women. Both men and women, should refuse to get married if dowry is being given or taken. Particularly, the girls should stand up against this system with all their might because the dowry system is responsible for the degradation of women in India To protest against the women themselves should raise their own status, With modernization and the increasing role of women in a productive economy, creating other ways for wives to contribute to their families.

End note
1. Kumar, Virendra (Feb. 2003). 2.Aisha Iqbal: Bride Burning- in the name of dowry". Aishaiqbal.blogspot.com. 2007-02-08. Retrieved 2012-01-28. 3."Brideburning claims hundreds in India - CNN". Articles.cnn.com. 1996-08-18.

Retrieved 2012-01-28. 4.a b Ash, Lucy (2003-07-16). "India's dowry deaths". BBC. Retrieved 2007-0730. 5.a b Kumar, Virendra, and Sarita Kanth, 'Bride burning' in The Lancet Vol. 364 6.Pratap, Anita, Time Magazine, September 11, 1995 Volume 146, No. 11 7.Yasui, Brian (1996-08-18). "Indian Society Needs To Change". CNN. Retrieved 2007-08-24. 8.a b "Disposal of Cases by Courts". National Crime Records Bureau, India. 9.Vadde Rama Rao v. State of Andhra Pradesh, 1990 Cr LJ 1666 10.Satvir Singh v. State of Punjab, AIR 2001 SC 2828: (2001) 8 SCC 633. 11.Patil Paresh Kumar Jayanti Lal v. State of Gujarat, 2000 Cr LJ 223 (Guj). 12.Nem Chand v. State of Haryana, (1994) 3 Crimes 608 (SC). 13.Kaliyaperumal v. State of Tamil Nadu, AIR 2003 SC 3828. 14.Yashoda v. State of Madhya Pradesh, (2004) 3 SCC 98. 15.Kaliyaperumal v. State of Tamil Nadu, AIR 2003 SC 3828 16.Ratan Lal v. State of Madhya Pradesh, 1994 Cri LJ 1684. 17.N.V. Satyanandam v. Public Prosecutor, AP High Court, AIR 2004 SC 1708. 18.Baljit Singh v. State of Haryana, AIR 2004 SC 1714: (2004) 3 SCC 122 19.Shanti v. State of Haryana, AIR 1991 SC 1226.

Bibliography
Websites:
www.indianexpress.com/news/woman-commits-suicide-husband-

held/494150/
www.indiankanoon.com

 www. Vaklino1.com wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowry_death www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jul2001/ind-j04.shtml

Books:
Family law by G.C.V Subba rao Family law by R.K Bangia