Dowry system has emerged as a menace in Indian society.

The evil of the dowry syst em has spread its tentacles in almost all parts of the country and sections of s ociety. This practice which earlier played the role of insurance for married gir ls to ward off unforeseeable misfortunes has now overshadowed their fortune and has added to their plight, exposing them to risk of materialistic nature of huma n beings. Dowry system has reduced the position of women into a mere commodity a nd has increased her vulnerability to exploitation and violence. This evil has s ubjected brides to risks of being harassed, tortured and even of death (Dowry de ath). Various legislations have been enacted to curb the serious consequences of this fatal system. Further, judiciary through its various pronouncements has tr ied to eradicate the loopholes of the existing laws for protection of women and preservation of societal values. This article focuses on the origin of this syst em, various loopholes present in the enacted legislations to deal with this mena ce and seeks to provide effective measures to eradicate this societal evil. ORIGIN OF DOWRY SYSTEM IN INDIA: The word Dowry (dahej) refers to the payment in cash or kind by the brides family to the bridegrooms family in consideration for marriage. The concept of dowry ha s emerged from the ancient ritual of Kanyadaan. Earlier Hindu girls had no right i n their ancestral property hence to compensate them, their parents used to give them money and other valuable items voluntarily as gifts during marriage in orde r to ensure their financial security. But in due course of time this custom emer ged as a compulsion on part of brides family. In contemporary era this system has become the signature ritual in marriages. The current trend prevailing in socie ty is no dowry, no marriage. EVILS OF DOWRY SYSTEM Marriage is considered as a sacrament among Hindus. But this system has led to the commercialisation of this sacramental union. Dowry has added fuel to the primit ive societal thinking of girls as a source of misery and boys of prosperity and further intensified gender inequality. This evil system has turned girls into a mere financial burden for their families and on the contrary boys into an invest ment. In our society dowry demand is directly proportional to grooms profession, qualification and status of his family. As a result grooms family consider educat ion as investment whereas brides family as a sheer wastage of resource. The monst er of dowry has become one of the prime factors behind rising female infanticide and selective abortion. It is an irony that in a country where women are consid ered as goddess there advertisements stating Spend five thousand now to save five lakhs later are being published. People contemplate dowry as a short-cut means t o satisfy their greed. Inability to fulfil this greed by the brides side results into brutal murder of the bride or subjecting her to torture to an extent that s he prefers death over life. Thus, Dowry Death is a serious problem in current sc enario. The grave nature of the problem is evident from the fact that on an aver age one Indian woman commits suicide every hour over a dowry dispute, as per off icial data. ANTI-DOWRY LAWS: The serious consequences of this evil system drew legislatures attention first in the states of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh and consequently they passed laws restra ining this system. The central legislature, in order to prohibit the demanding, giving and taking of dowry, finally came up with legislation in 1961 popularly known as the Dowry Prohibition Act. However, this act proved to be a toothless piece of legislation and women contin ued to be slaughtered in the name of dowry demands. To make the legislation effe ctive further amendments were introduced in 1984 and 1986. The 91st report of th e Law Commission of India, published in the year 1983, recommended certain provi

sions in IPC, CrPC and Indian Evidence Act to combat this social evil. The 1984 amendment defined dowry as in connection with the marriage replacing original word s as consideration of marriage. Further, the 1986 amendment includes the property given at any time after the marriage. These provisions have strengthened the eff orts to eradicate the dowry evil. The Act of 1961, irrespective of any religion is applicable on each and every person within Indian Territory and has made eve n the demand of dowry a culpable offence. Thus, in current scenario, to uproot the menace of Dowry tradition various antidowry provisions have been incorporated under civil laws, criminal laws and spec ial legislative Acts. Some of the relevant Anti-Dowry laws are: - Section 498-A of IPC: It made cruelty by the husband or his relatives punishab le with imprisonment up to three years. - Section 304- B of IPC: It defines Dowry Death. - Section 113-B of Indian Evidence Act: It provides presumption as to dowry deat h. - Section 174 and 176 of CrPC: It provides for the investigations and inquiries into the causes of unnatural deaths, by the police and magistrate respectively. LOOPHOLES IN THE EXISTING ANTI-DOWRY LAWS: Though these laws have reduced the cases of dowry abuse especially amongst urban educated class yet they did not fetch the desired result. According to Sivarama yya, the Act has signally failed in its operation. Menon refers to the near total-f ailure of the law. A similar viewpoint is expressed by Srinivas, who wrote, The Do wry Prohibition Act of 1961 has been unanimously declared to be an utterly ineff ective law. These views are supported by The Indian National Crime Records Burea u (NCRB) reports which state that there were about 8172 dowry death cases regis tered in India in 2008 and such incidents during the year 2008 (8172) have incr eased by 14.4 per cent over 1998 level (7146). The failure of the anti-dowry laws is basically because of some fundamental erro rs. The glaring example of such a defect is Section- 3 of The Dowry Prohibition Act which punishes both the giver and taker of dowry. This has proved detrimenta l as the givers of dowry cannot complain against the takers in fear of spoiling the marriage as well as of facing legal sanctions. Another failure of the Act li es in Section 7 which makes the offence of dowry-demand a non-cognizable offence , thereby making its complaint mandatory. As a result people avoid lodging dowr y complaint in fear of wastage of time and money resources. Further, Dowry is de fined as a bailable offence under the Dowry Prohibition Act, which makes provisi ons for anticipatory bail even when the case is of grave nature i.e. burning bri de to death. The most burning issue regarding anti-dowry law is section 498-A of IPC. This pr ovision is under severe criticism because of its mass misuse by women and their relatives. The Law Commission has recommended watering down the anti-dowry law t o make it less stringent by allowing the woman involved in the case to withdraw the case with the permission of the court provided she is not under any pressure and making it a compoundable offence. The Supreme Court declared Section 498-A as Legal Terrorism while giving judgment in matter of Sushil Kumar Sharma Vs. Uni on of India (UOI) and Ors. JUDICIAL REFORMS: The Judiciary through its various pronouncements has tried to overcome the above lacunae of the existing laws. The Supreme Court in the case of Lajpatrai Sehgal v. State, held that Section 198 of the Code of Criminal Procedure doesnt apply t o cases of dowry. This is because aggrieved parties in dowry cases hardly compla in, and the amendment to Section 7 of the Act makes it obvious that relatives of

the aggrieved parties are entitled to file a complaint. Also, through the expla nation to Section 7 it is clear that even recognised welfare institutions can br ing a case against dowry mongers. Further in case of Pawan Kumar v. State of Har yana the Supreme Court has established that persistent demand for commodities af ter marriage would come under the definition for dowry. In a recent case, the co urt has held that whether a marriage is valid or invalid a dowry is a dowry to mak e dowry laws more stringent. CONCLUSION: Despite having a specific Anti-Dowry law this evil is still growing leaps and bo unds. This is basically because of the various lacunae present in the existing l aw as well as lack of favourable public opinion as Legislation alone cannot erad icate the deep rooted social problem. Thus, in order to uproot this menace, mas s public awareness movement backed by positive public opinion is necessary. Educ ating girls and adoption and acceptance of say no to dowry policy by youth can als o be helpful in eradicating this societal evil as dowry invites worry.