THE DOWRY SYSTEM

PRESENTED BYN S S GOWTHAM GANESH

IntroductionDowry or Dahej  is the payment in cash or

any kind by the bride's family to the bridegroom' s family along with the giving away of the bride.

Dowry is derived from the ancient Hindu customs of "kanyadan" and "stridhan“

In "kanyadan", the father of the bride offers the father of the groom money or property, etc. whereas for "stridhan", the bride herself gets jewelry and clothes at the time of her marriage, usually from her relatives or friends

HistoryDowry system was generally unknown in

early societies and also with ancient Hindus It had been observed that women were

merely vehicles for the transfer of property from one family to another, and had no right over property transferred in the name of dowry .

Mumbai was presented as part of the dowry when Princess Catherine de Braganza of Portugal was married to King Charles II in 1661.

Dowry is the Biggest problem of Society at Present Though India has host of

problems to tackle today, yet the biggest which the country is facing is dowry. Dowry, in fact, has destroyed our economy.

Today we fix dowry rates of boys of different categories –doctors,engineers,lecturers, business men, executives, administrative services, etc. Merit of the girl has nothing to do in the settlement of the marriage proposal.

STATISTICS According to Indian National Crime Record Bureau, there were In 1988, 2,209 women were killed in dowry related incidents  In 1990, 4,835 women were killed in the same dowry related incidents. According to Government figures there were a total of 5,377 dowry

deaths in1993, an increase of 12% from 1992. In 2008 a total of 1, 95,856 cases were registered. In 2009 a total of 2, 03,804 cases were registered. And in 2010 a total of 2, 13,585 cases were registered. A woman is murdered for dowry every 20 minutes. There are 2400 dowry deaths per every year. This has distorted the sex ratio in India 933 females per 1000 males and has given rise to female feticides. The above analysis is only

by records, unofficially there are more than the above

The 1961 Dowry Prohibition Act Introduced and taken up by then Indian law

minister Ashok Kumar Sen, this historical act prohibits the request, payment or acceptance of a dowry, "as consideration for the marriage". where "dowry" is defined as a gift demanded or given as a precondition for a marriage.

Gifts given without a precondition are not considered dowry, and are legal.

Asking or giving of dowry can be punished by an imprisonment of up to six months, or a fine of up to Rs. 15000 or the amount of dowry whichever is higher and imprisonment up to 5 years.

It replaced several pieces of anti-dowry legislation that had been enacted by various Indian states.

SUGGESTIONSAwarenessEducationStringent Punishments Enforcement Mechanisms to be

strengthened

CONCLUSSION

“Only a consistent persistent and co-operative effort can

solve the problem”