Dowry a cross-cultural evil that has disguised itself as ‘gifts’ and social expectations: Supreme Court judgment

Terming dowry a “cross-cultural evil” cutting crossed religions, the Supreme Courtof India has said successful a judgement that the “social strategy” to wed daughters to “higher presumption families” has travel astatine a large outgo to the rights of women.

In the contiguous case, a 20-year-old miss died arsenic her parents could not wage up for a colour television, a motorcycle, and ₹15,000. The judgement by a Bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N.K. Singh said “she was seemingly lone worthy that much” for her in-laws.

“This signifier of marrying ‘higher up’ traces its origins to caste and kinship on with, to usage a colloquial term, the ‘baggage of the samaj ’ (society) that comes with it. Since lineage is traced done the patriarchal line, the tendency to wed daughters into adjacent oregon higher presumption families ensured that their offspring retained oregon enhanced the family’s standing. Hypergamy frankincense became some a societal strategy and a religiously sanctioned norm,” Justice Karol, who authored the caller judgment, observed.

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Noting that though the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 sought to prohibit the practice, dowry has persisted successful society. This societal evil, the tribunal said, has slipped done the statutory explanation cloaked arsenic “gifts” and “social expectations”.

“This signifier is, astatine the astir basal level, astatine likelihood with the values enshrined successful the Constitution, i.e., the Constitutional ethos of justice, liberty and fraternity, and much particularly, Article 14, which guarantees equality earlier the instrumentality and adjacent extortion of the laws, a rule straight undermined by a strategy that treats women arsenic a root of fiscal extraction,” Justice Karol said.

Significantly, the tribunal elaborate however Muslim families, peculiarly successful municipality centres, person begun adopting dowry arsenic a “status marker and arsenic portion of competitory matrimony negotiations”.

Dowry has replaced oregon overshadowed mehr, with Muslim women losing an important bargaining instrumentality to look greater economical vulnerability.

“This undermines the archetypal Islamic volition of empowering women done spot ownership, arsenic the dowry often ends up nether the power of the hubby oregon his family,” Justice Karol wrote.

The tribunal directed the States and the Union authorities to see changes to acquisition curricula crossed levels, reinforcing the Constitutional presumption that parties to a matrimony are adjacent to 1 another, and 1 was not subservient to the different arsenic sought to beryllium established by giving and taking of wealth and/or articles astatine the clip of marriage.

The tribunal ordered the punctual assignment of Dowry Prohibition Officers successful States, and nationalist entree to their details. It said constabulary officers and judicial officers dealing with dowry cases indispensable acquisition periodic grooming and sensitisation.

The apex tribunal requested the State High Courts to instrumentality stock, ascertain the fig of pending dowry cases, and alteration their expeditious disposal.

The tribunal ordered the transcript of the judgement to beryllium circulated among the High Courts.