Dowry death
Dowry deaths are the deaths caused to young women, where the woman is murdered or driven to suicide by continuous harassment for dowry by her husband and in-laws. Dowry deaths are reported in various south asian countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc. Dowry originated in India as gifts given to the bride by upper caste rich families. Dowry death is considered as one of the many categories of violence against women(VAW) in south asia.
Dowry Deaths in South Asia
In India
Indian national crime bureau reports that there are about 6787 dowry death cases registered in India in year 2005. These deaths are due to murders or suicides. Some of these murders for dowry are carried out by burning woman by her husband and in-laws. This is termed as "bride burning". But, most of the dowry deaths occur when the young women commit suicide, being unable to bear the harassment and abuse for not bringing more dowry from their parents. Incidents of Dowry Deaths during the year 2005 (6,787) have increased significantly by 46.0 per cent over 1995 level (4,648). However, the increase was marginal (0.1%) over quinquennial average of 2000-2004 and there was a decline by 3.4 per cent (7,026) compared to year 2005.
Activism
Indian women's rights activists campaigned for more than 40 years to contain dowry deaths without much success. The Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 and the more stringent Section 498a of IPC (enacted in 1983) did not achieve the desired result. Under he recently enacted protection of women against domestic violence act (PWDVA), demand of a woman can put the stop to dowry harassment by approaching a domestic violence protection officer. Due to demands by women's activists the Indian government recently made daughters get equal rights to inherit the ancestral property of their parents. Some religious groups have urged the people to curb the extravagant spendings during the marriages as well.
Anti-dowry laws in India
Please see, Dowry law in India
References