Volume-XII, Issue-V, September 2026 |
Dowry Deaths in India Sujata Deka, Assistant Commissioner of State GST, Nalbari, Assam, India |
Received: 26.07.2026 | Accepted: 22.09.2026 | Published Online: 30.09.2026 | Page No: 91-102 | ||||
DOI: 10.29032/ijhsss.vol.12.issue.05W.375 | |||||||
ABSTRACT | ||
Dowry related-violence is a type of gender-based violence where marriage is used as a means of making demands, extracting monetary and/or economic resources and controlling people. Despite the prohibition of the giving, taking and demanding of dowry under Indian law, the incidents of dowry cruelty and unnatural death continue to highlight the gap between the law and reality. This paper explores the nature of dowry as a social institution, the pressures that enable it to exist, the key provisions of the criminal law and the evidentiary rules, and the ability of preventive measures to respond. It uses secondary sources such as law, judicial rulings, published scholarship and official police statistics. The central thesis is that punishment alone is not enough to eradicate dowry violence; the rights of women to property and economic independence, early reporting, support for the survivors, accountability of investigation and continued social condemnation of marriage transaction are also essential. | ||
Keywords: Dowry death; cruelty; gender-based violence; marriage payments; criminal justice; prevention |