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DOWRY DEATH
Submitted to:-

Ms. Arshiya

(Faculty, Family Law)

INDRAPRASTHA UNIVERSITY
DELHI

Submitted by:-

Semester IV Section-C
Date of Submission: …/02/2019
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Contents

1. Introduction ……….......……………………………………..............................3

2. Causes of dowry...................................................................................................3

3. Dowry in modern era...……………………………………......………..………5

4. Types of dowry crime...........................................................................................5

5. Laws in relation of dowry death .........................................................................7

6. Magisterate inquest in dowry death ...................................................................9

7. Forensic experts and dowry death ......................................................................9

8. Social factors and dowry death..........................................................................10

9. Effective steps to be taken……………...………………………………….…....10

10. Medico legal aspects of dowry deaths…………………………………………11

INTRODUCTION

The dowry system in India refers to the durable goods, cash, and real or movable property that
the bride's family gives to the bridegroom, his parents, or his relatives as a condition of
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the marriage.  Dowry is essentially in the nature of a payment in cash or some kind of gifts given
to the bridegroom's family along with the bride and includes cash, jewellery, electrical
appliances, furniture, bedding, crockery, utensils and other household items that help the
newlyweds set up their home.

The dowry system is thought to put great financial burden on the bride's family. In some cases,
the dowry system leads to crime against women, ranging from emotional abuse and injury to
even deaths. The payment of dowry has long been prohibited under specific Indian laws
including the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 and subsequently by Sections 304B and 498A of
the Indian Penal Code.

A court judgment clarifies the legal definition of dowry as:-

"Dowry" in the sense of the expression contemplated by Dowry Prohibition Act is a demand for
property of valuable security having an inextricable nexus with the marriage, i.e., it is a
consideration from the side of the bride's parents or relatives to the groom or his parents and/or
guardian for the agreement to wed the bride-to-be.

The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 article 3 specifies that the penalty for giving or taking dowry
does not apply to presents which are given at the time of a marriage to the bride or bridegroom,
when no demand for them have been made.

Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code required the bridegroom and his family to be
automatically arrested if a wife complains of dowry harassment. The law was widely abused and
in 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that arrests can only be made with a magistrate's approval.

Causes of the dowry

Various reasons have been suggested as cause of dowry practice in India. These include
economic factors and social factors.

Economic factors

There are many economic factors that contribute towards the system of dowry. Some of these
include inheritance systems and the bride's economic status.
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Prior to 1956, including during the British Raj, daughters had no rights of inheritance to their
family's wealth. In 1956, India gave equal legal status to daughters and sons among Hindu, Sikh
and Jain families, under the Hindu Succession Act (India grants its Muslim population
the Sharia derived personal status laws). Despite the new inheritance law, dowry has continued
as a process whereby parental property is distributed to a daughter at her marriage by a social
process, rather than after parents death by a slow court supervised process under Hindu
Succession Act (1956).

Social factors

The structure and kinship of marriage in parts of India contributes to dowry. In the north,
marriage usually follows a life with husband's family system, where the groom is a non-related
member of the family. This system encourages dowry perhaps due to the exclusion of the bride's
family after marriage as a form of  inheritance for the bride. In the south, marriage is more often
conducted within the bride's family, for example with close relatives or cross-cousins, and in a
closer physical distance to her family. In addition, brides may have the ability to inherit land,
which makes her more valuable in the marriage, decreasing the chance of dowry over the Bride
Price system.

A 1995 study showed that while attitudes of people are changing about dowry, dowry continues
to prevail. In a 1980 study conducted by Rao, 75% of students responded that dowry was not
important to marriage, but 40% of their parents' likely expected dowry.

Religious factors

Dowry in India is not limited to any specific religion. It is widespread among Hindus and other
religions. For example, Indian Muslims call dowry as jahez, justify the practice in terms of jahez-
e-fatimi. Islamists classify jahez into two categories: The first comprises some essential articles
for the outfit of the bride as well as for conjugal life. The other is made up of valuable goods,
clothes, jewelry and an amount of money for the groom's family, which is settled on after
bargaining. The jahez often far exceeds the cost of the marriage parties.

Dowry in the modern era

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Dowry has been a prevalent practice in India's modern era and in this context, it can be in the
form of a payment of cash or gifts from the bride's family to the bridegroom's family upon
marriage. There are variations on dowry prevalence based on geography and class. States in the
north are more likely to participate in the dowry system among all classes, and dowry is more
likely to be in the form of material and movable goods. In the south, the bride price system is
more prevalent, and is more often in the form of land, or other inheritance goods. This system is
tied to the social structure of marriage, which keeps marriage inside or close to family relations.

Dowry also varies by economic strata in India. Upper-class families are more likely to engage in
the dowry system than the lower class. This could be in part due to women's economic exclusion
from the labour market in upper classes.

When dowry evolved in the Vedic period, it was essentially followed by the upper castes to
benefit the bride, who was unable to inherit property under Hindu Law. To counter this, the
bride's family provided the groom with dowry which would be registered in the bride's name.
This dowry was seen as stridhan (Sanskrit: woman's property). Also, an important distinction is
the fact that while the upper castes practiced dowry, the lower castes practiced bride price to
compensate her family for the loss of income.

In the modern era, the concept of dowry has evolved and Indian families no longer practice the
traditional Vedic concept of dowry. This is because with the passage of time, bride
price gradually disappeared and dowry became the prevalent form of transfer. In the modern era,
the practice of dowry requires the bride's family to transfer goods to the groom's family in
consideration for the marriage.

Types of dowry crime

Recently married women can be a target for dowry related violence because she is tied
economically and socially to her new husband. Dowry crimes can occur with the threat or
occurrence of violence, so that the bride's family is left with no choice but to give more dowry to
protect their daughter. The northern and eastern states of India show higher rates of dowry-
related violence.

Cruelty
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Cruelty in the form of torture or harassment of a woman with the objective of forcing her to meet
a demand for property or valuable security is a form of dowry crime. Such cruelty could just be
in the form of verbal attacks or may be accompanied by beating or harassment in order to force
the woman or her family to yield to dowry demands. In many instances, such cruelty may even
force the woman to commit suicide and it has been specifically criminalized by the anti-dowry
laws in India.

Whereas cruelty towards newly wedded women is well recognized and defined by law, the same
actions when committed on husbands do not constitute Cruelty. However often this is not the
case.

Domestic violence

Domestic violence includes a broad spectrum of abusive and threatening behavior which

includes physical, emotional, economic and sexual violence as well as intimidation, isolation and
coercion. There are laws like the Protection of Woman from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 that
help to reduce domestic violence and to protect women’s right.

Abetment to suicide

Continuing abuse by the husband and his family with threats of harm could lead to a woman
committing suicide. In such situations, the dowry crime even extends to abetment of suicide,
which includes all acts and attempts to intentionally advise, encourage, or assist in committing
suicide. The impact of dowry can leave a woman helpless and desperate, which can cumulate
in emotional trauma and abuse. Dowry related abuse causes depression and suicide. The offence
of abetment to suicide is significant because in many cases, the accused persons often bring up a
defense that the victim committed suicide at her own, even though this may not be true in reality.

Dowry murder
Dowry death and dowry murder relate to a bride's suicide or killing committed by her husband
and his family soon after the marriage because of their dissatisfaction with the dowry. It is
typically the culmination of a series of prior domestic abuses by the husband's family. Most
dowry deaths occur when the young woman, unable to bear the harassment and torture, commits
suicide by hanging herself or consuming poison. Dowry deaths also include bride burning where
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brides are doused in kerosene and set ablaze by the husband or his family. Sometimes, due to
their abetment to commit suicide, the bride may end up setting herself on fire.

Bride burnings are often disguised as accidents or suicide attempts. Bride burnings are the most
common forms of dowry deaths for a wide range of reasons like kerosene being inexpensive,
there being insufficient evidence after the murder and low chances of survival rate. Apart from
bride burning, there are some instances of poisoning, strangulation, acid attacks etc., as a result
of which brides are murdered by the groom's family.

Dowry deaths can also include sex selective abortions and female feticide by parents who do not
want to pay for their daughter's dowry when she comes of age. Daughters are often seen as
economic liabilities due to the dowry system.

Laws in relation of dowry deaths

Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961

The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 consolidated the anti-dowry laws which had been passed on
certain states. This legislation provides for a penalty in section 3 if any person gives takes or
abets giving or receiving of dowry. The punishment could be imprisonment for minimum 5 years
and a fine more than 15,000 or the value of the dowry received, whichever is higher. Dowry in
the Act is defined as any property or valuable security given or agreed to be given in connection
with the marriage. The penalty for giving or taking dowry is not applicable in case of presents
which are given at the time of marriage without any demand having been made.

The Act provides the penalty for directly or indirectly demanding dowry and provides for a
penalty involving a prison term of not less than 6 months and extendable up to two years along
with a fine of 10,000. Dowry agreements are void ab initio and if any dowry is received by
anyone other than the woman, it should be transferred to the woman. The burden of proving that
an offense was not committed is on the persons charged and not on the victim or her
family. Under its powers to frame rules for carrying out its objectives under the Act, the
government of India has framed the Maintenance of Lists of Presents to the Bride and the
Bridegroom Rules, 1985. There are also several state level amendments to the Dowry Prohibition
Act.
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Criminal statutes – Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and

Evidence Act

The Indian criminal laws were comprehensively amended to include dowry as a punishable
offence. Section 304B was added to the Indian Penal Code, 1860, which made dowry death a
specific offence punishable with a minimum sentence of imprisonment for 7 years and a
maximum imprisonment for life. It provided that if the death of a woman is caused by burns or
bodily injury or occurs in suspicious circumstances within 7 years of her marriage, and there's
evidence to show that before her death, she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her
husband or his relative regarding the demand for dowry, then the husband or the relative shall be
deemed to have caused her death.

IEA Section 113 - A deals with presumption as to abetment of suicide by a married woman

When the question is whether the commission of suicide by woman had been abetted by her
husband or any relative of her husband and it is shown that she had committed suicide within a
period of seven years from the date of her manage and her husband or such relative of her
husband had subjected to cruelty, the court may presume, having regard to all the other
circumstances of the case, that such suicide had been abetted by her husband or by such relative
of her husband.

IEA section 113 – B deals with presumption as to dowry death

When the question is whether a person has committed the dowry death of a woman and it is
shown that soon before her death, such woman had been subjected by such person to cruelty or
harassment for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry, the court shall presume that such
person had caused the dowry death.

Section 304B IPC along with Section 113B of the Evidence Act have enabled the conviction of
many who were not caught by the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.  Additionally, the judiciary also
includes a murder charge under Section 302 IPC as this allows courts to impose death penalty on
perpetrators of the offence. Section 406 IPC, pertaining to offences for the criminal breach of
trust, applies in cases of recovery of dowry as it is supposed to be for the benefit of the woman
and her heirs.
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Further, Section 498A IPC was specifically included in 1983 to protect women from cruelty and
harassment. The constitutionality of Section 498A was challenged before the Supreme Court of
India on grounds of abuse, on grounds that it gave arbitrary power to the police and the court.
However, it was upheld in Sushil Kumar Sharma v. Union of India (2005) The code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973 provides that for the prosecution of offences under Section 498A IPC, the courts
can take cognizance only when it receives a report of the facts from the police or upon a
complaint being made by the victim or her family.

Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act ("Domestic Violence Act") was passed
in order to provide a civil law remedy for the protection of women from domestic violence in
India. The Domestic Violence Act encompasses all forms of physical, verbal, emotional,
economic and sexual abuse and forms a subset of the anti-dowry laws to the extent it is one of
the reasons for domestic violence. Section 3 of the Domestic Violence Act specifically
incorporates all forms of harassment, injury and harms inflicted to coerce a woman to meet an
unlawful demand for dowry. Some of the common remedies under the Domestic Violence Act
include:

 protection orders – prohibiting a person from committing domestic violence;

 residence orders – dispossessing such person from a shared household;
 custody orders – granting custody of a child; and
 compensation orders – directing payment of compensation.

Magistrate inquest in dowry death

In dowry deaths, investigating officer plays a very important role to bring out justice as well as
on other hand to save the husband or in laws if at all they are not guilty for the offence and are
falsely being caught up in trap. He has to investigate every dowry death case with consideration
of both mental and physical torture which has been imparted on the victim by the husband and/or
in laws over a long period which has ended in suicide by the lady.

Forensic experts and dowry death

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Forensic experts come into picture only when dowry death cases are sent to them for post-
mortem examination for obtaining necessary opinions. In doctor’s view, dowry death cases are
like any other unnatural female death cases yet. Forensic expert, as a rule, must try his level best
to find out the cause of death only on the basis of scientific facts observed in any given case and
not on assumptions or predetermined concept. Firm devotion to the approved code for the
conductance of post-mortem in dowry death cases should be observed. Try to find out the cause,
nature of death and time since death and other relevant facts from the medico-legal point of view
to help justice. Presence of a lady doctor in the autopsy team is must to visualize and explore all
angles although each case is unique. Most of the victims are young married women who are
usually labeled as accidental deaths, but actually these are not accidental cases but are of
homicidal in nature. So it is the principal duty of forensic experts to look for the exact cause of
death on the basis of relevant data and diagnostic criteria in scientific manner and approach.

Social factors and dowry death

Dowry is a social sin, which is common amongst upper and middle classes of Hindu community
of India, and is the key factor for unnatural deaths in newly married females since years. Besides
dowry, illiteracy, arranged or love marriages, child marriages, joint family structure, oedipal
supremacy of mother in law, joblessness and monetary dependence of husbands on their parents,
near complete dependence of women or their husband and / or in laws, drunkenness, cruelty and
disloyalty of the husbands and want of social safety among Hindu women are other contributory
factors affecting the marital happiness in one or other ways. Dowry occupies only one end of the
shore of social exploitation sea; within the same field are cruelty, penalty, and molestation,
physical or mental torture etc. After marriage, girl is push into an unknown world and is trapped
into network of insecurities and thus she is totally on the kindness of the husband and/ or his
family members who might or might not look after her.

Effective steps to be taken

Ban of giving and taking dowry – The dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, is the one which is most
commonly challenged since its commencement all over the country. There is no disagreement
that there is an ever increasing crime against women at the hands of their husbands and / or in
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laws. To deal with this section 304-B (Dowry Deaths) and 498 - A (Cruelty by husband or in-
laws were incorporated in the Indian Penal code in the mid 1980's.

A re-evaluation of Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 should be done again as the law has actually
failed to control the crimes against women or in effect failed to produce the vital results.
Moreover, the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 being a special act, usually police do not take steps
or take much attention in it, more particularity because offences under the act are treated as
cognizable offences for certain limited purposes. Severe punishment is to be given to those who
take dowry and harsh laws be framed for dowry related harassment and dowry deaths. Strict laws
should also be enacted to disallow remarriages for such men whose wives have been burnt alive
and / or the men who have been caught up in dowry deaths till the release of final judgment.
Besides, a special task force of police should be constituted exclusively for this purpose, and
speedy police investigations should be done. A continuous monitoring is also a must for all
registered dowry death cases both at district and high court level so that justice should be
delivered at the earliest.

Medico-legal aspects of dowry death

Some of the vital medico-legal aspects which warrant notice have been dealt in here to think over
the delicate situations faced by forensic experts in their routine practice. The primary aspect is
that not only the police should act immediately to avoid demolition of essential clues at the scene
of crime but also police should act promptly in registering all such complains without delay. If a
special task force / cell are maintained then this should also be informed for timely investigations
of each case. Secondly, if local police is lagging behind or showing a delaying policy then either
the superior officers are approached or voluntary organisations be approached for the proper
investigation to be done. Involvement of media also focuses a strong awareness about the
occurrence of crime. If the victim is alive after the incident then prompt efforts should be made
to record a declaration by a competent authority. Dying declaration has legal validity as the
Indian law presumes that a person who believes that her death is imminent will tell only the truth
and never lies.

However, in our opinion, in certain situations female victims who make dying declaration, may
give artificial information, particularly if the lady is continuously tortured for years together or
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else is severely depressed or under the influence of drug or wants to secure the future of her
children. Strangely, these aspects have not been satisfactorily probed by the courts. The courts
never consider the emotional dilemmas faced by these victims who are giving dying declarations.
Judiciary should take a fresh look at the trustworthiness of dying declarations, in particular, once
the truthfulness of a dying declaration has been criticised by scientific facts. The law should give
recognition and preference to the scientific facts and not to the dying declaration. Moreover, the
victim's purpose in making a deathbed declaration is either to protect the interests of her children
or other relatives while the medico-legal personnel pathologist or the forensic experts furnish
facts without any motives and in the interests of society to assist the administration of justice.

Every life ends one day but unnatural end particularly due to dowry leaves a bad example of
good society. More deterrent sentences or proof of guilt from the prosecution to the accused will
not be effective unless the public is made aware of the wicked consequences of dowry and are
assured protection in case when they come forward to fight against it. Neighbors can be of great
help in prosecution of such crime by giving truthful evidence about general treatment given to
the bride before her death.