Dowry Dilemmas

I would like to keep my flowers of love on your feet
I would like to gift my tender heart to you
I would like to present all my five senses to you
I would like to mortgage my entire life for you
I myself will light my pyre and sacrifice my life for you

But - that 'You'
respect a woman as a woman
and not as a toy in the shop
and that 'You'
will not be greedy for 'Dowry'.
and that 'You'
will not be sold as a commodity in the market.

Translated from a Telugu Poem by Mrs. B.V. Rao

In Indian culture, womanhood has always been treated with reverence. Woman is given equal rights and is often described as better half. On all social occasions woman’s presence is essential and rituals are rendered incomplete in her absence.

'Yatra Naryastu Pujyanate, Ramante Tatra Devata' (where woman is worshipped, gods reside), is a common refrain in our scriptures and establishes the significance attached to womanhood since ancient times.

However, the equality that our ancient ancestors professed for womanhood could not be maintained in the medieval times. A number of historical and social factors must have contributed to this downward spiral in woman’s status. In the times of the poet Tulsidas, women’s status declined further and they became objects of torture. With the medieval thought processes, the woman was confined behind the veil, she lost her predominant position in the family and her role in decision making also took a severe beating.

Modern Indian society, during its Renaissance period in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, adopted several regressive practices that severely undermined women’s position here. Some of them included sati, child marriage, widow ill-treatment and, of course, dowry as the most common of them all. The twentieth century has seen several efforts to emancipate womanhood from these social evils with movements and legislation being brought forth. And these efforts did bear fruit but growing materialistic greed amongst the burgeoning middle class ensured that social monster called ‘dowry’ could not be tamed.

By the eighties the demon of dowry had become so vicious that it just did not stop at ragging of brides in their husband’s home. It took the most devious form of bride burning or driving new brides to the point of committing suicide. The bride and her entire family were now being victimised in the name of dowry. This forced stricter legislation and by the year 1988, stringent laws were enacted for curbing the menace of dowry. The Indian Penal Code of 1861 vintage was also amended where sections 498 A and 304 B that included strict provisions against killing of a woman for dowry or driving a woman to suicide over dowry were added.

These were shameful times where marrying off a girl became a terrible burden for the parents. On the other hand, the grooms were up for grabs like buffaloes in a cattle bazaar. Thousands of young girls were killed and news on dowry killings, bride burning, poisoning became a topic daily debate in the media. Many girls, rather than burdening their parents with dowry, decided to end their lives. In 1986, I came across a disturbing and widely publicised case in Kanpur where three sisters, young girls, hung themselves from the ceiling fans to protect their poor parents from the devil that dowry had become. This incident made it to the front pages of all the Indian dailies.

Lately this monster of dowry has given rise to another evil of Indian society - foetal female infanticide. The gender imbalance as a result of this heinous act has reached alarming levels in several states of India. Today woman has equal rights in India but she is at grave risk, even before she breathes outside the mother’s womb.

As a police officer, I came across the dreaded face of dowry several times. I also came across misuse of stringent laws against dowry.

While I was posted as the Assistant Superintendent of Police in Aligarh in the year 1992, the station in charge sent word that a woman had set herself on fire in a nearby village and died. I decided to visit the crime scene to inspect. The thana in charge repeatedly described it as a case of suicide and tried to dissuade me from visiting the site. The moment I was advised against visiting the site, I smelt a rat. I made inquiries and came to know that the unfortunate woman had been married seven and half years. Dowry law provisions apply until seven years of marriage. As per the new dowry laws, even suicide is considered to be equal to murder if the suicide was forced upon the girl due to torture owing to dowry demands. This particular case could even have been homicide, a killing instead of suicide, and therefore I decided to investigate on the spot.

As I reached the village, I could see a large crowd had gathered. We decided to take a by lane and entered the village. The police jeep was now being tailed by a large number of children and young boys, probably excited at the sight of men in uniform. Inside the home were several veiled women and elders. The dead body was covered with a white shroud. We looked at the body and discovered blisters oozing with pus all over. The entire corpse had turned black, appeared quite grotesque in its transformation from a living body to roasted flesh.

The family members described the incident saying that they were all in the room on the terrace, while an elderly woman sat in the courtyard preparing a meal. The dead woman had locked herself up inside the room. I noticed that one door of this room also opened in the courtyard. They said that the woman had set herself on fire. As the people on the terrace heard desperate cries, they rushed to save the woman. Somehow she was taken out and brought to the courtyard. Before they could think of giving first aid, she was dead.

I saw that the courtyard was small. It was only twenty feet in length and about fifteen feet wide. There were two adjacent rooms that had stairs attached to them for reaching the rooms on the terrace. I looked at the door of the room and found it in good shape. It did not indicate a forced entry. If the woman committed suicide after bolting the door from inside, then it should have had signs of forced entry.

When I cross-questioned the family as to why they did not force the door open, brought it down, when they sensed that something was burning inside or heard cries of pain. They were rendered speechless, after some having contradicted each other. It was becoming quite apparent that the woman had been set afire. It was also quite clear that this foul murder had been committed with the collusion of the entire family and it would be quite tough to collect evidence since not a single soul in the household was willing to come out with the whole truth.

As I was questioning the elders in the family, the in-laws of the deceased woman, a six- six and a half years-old child suddenly cried out, “They did not break the door, she kept on crying for help, it was the villagers who came and opened the door after she had died.”

I looked at the innocent child and tried to imagine the unfathomable loss this child had suffered. I had heard that God dwells in children. How could god be so unkind to a child as to let him witness the burning of a mother? I knew that the child could not have been tutored into telling lies. My heart went out to this innocent child who had been forced to witness this heart-rending killing of his own mother by his own family. What could be more inhuman than this?

I called the child to me and patiently waited for his uncontrollable sobbing to subside. Lovingly, I asked him to narrate what had happened. He had been playing outside the house when this incident occurred. When he heard his mother’s shrieks, he ran towards the room. The door had been bolted from outside. None of the family members, the father, grandparents or the father’s sister had opened the door or made any effort to save her. The child ran out and called for help in the village. Only when the villagers arrived was the door opened.

The child’s testimony clearly proved foul play. It was sheer greed that had forced her family to perpetrate murder most foul. The family members were all guilty of not just killing in cold blood but also trying to mislead the investigation by hiding evidence. I ordered immediate arrest of the family members. My heart went out to the little child who would forever have to bear the scars of this shameful incident and would also live with the stigma of being from a family that were his own mother’s killers.

* * *

In Aligarh, I had the opportunity of investigating another case of dowry death. The earlier investigating officer, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, having been transferred out of the district, I was given the task of completing the investigation. When I read the files carefully, I came to know that the woman had poisoned herself and died. The in-laws of this girl had cremated the body without informing the girl’s parents. When the parents came to know of the death of their daughter they had registered a case of dowry killing. The groom and his parents had been arrested, while twelve others co-accused were yet to be arrested.

Looking at the rather long list of the people accused, I was confounded as to how so many could have colluded in the crime. I decided to investigate again. I gathered all the papers pertaining to the investigation and reached the village from where the case had been reported.

When I talked to people it was clearly established that the dead woman had indeed been harassed constantly for dowry by her in-laws. Tired of mental torture and physical abuse, the girl had consumed pesticide and killed herself. Under the dowry laws, death by suicide related to dowry that occurs within seven years of marriage is also treated as a dowry killing. A case was registered to the effect and the dead woman’s husband and parents arrested for dowry killing. They had, in fact committed a heinous crime and even displayed bad intentions by cremating the girl without informing her family. They were booked under Section 304 B of the Indian Penal Code.

Twelve others named in the case belonged to the same village. They had accompanied the family to the cremation out of social obligation. The earlier officer had named them as co-accused in the crime, guilty of trying to destroy evidence of crime since they had accompanied the killers in the funeral. I found this line of investigation quite absurd.

These twelve people were absconding since they had been charged, afraid of being arrested if they surfaced. People in the village informed me that the earlier investigating officer had even demanded money to let them off. Since they had refused to pay, they had been named as co-accused for murder under the charge of collaborating in a cover up.

I spent almost half the day in the village talking to several people. After having gone through all aspects of the case in great detail, I realised that the time and date of cremation, after the occurrence of death was decided by close relatives and family of the deceased. The neighbours had just come in to pay condolences and accompanied the family out of common social etiquette. Just doing this did not indicate their involvement in murder and the serious charge of attempt to destroy evidence. They had no intention of committing this crime. I decided that the names of the twelve should be deleted from the list of the accused in the case. When this was made public knowledge, the entire village danced with joy. These people did not have to hide themselves any longer. They had regained their freedom.

The perpetrators of the crime had got their just deserts but one had to ensure that the severe provisions of the dowry law were not misused to cause unnecessary harassment to ordinary citizens. This was the demand of judicious and humanitarian policing.

* * *

I have come across instances of misuse of the dowry law where the bride’s family frighten the groom and his family into abject submission, blackmail and then cut deals with them. Once a young girl’s dead body, a girl who died of natural causes, awaited cremation for one and half days just because the girl’s parents were negotiating over her corpse. They made it clear to the husband and his parents that unless they were paid a sum of Rupees Two Lacs spent on the wedding and an additional sum of Rupees Four Lacs as penalty, they would file a complaint of dowry death and have all of them arrested. They had delayed the cremation to realise the payment and allowed the cremation only when the cash had been delivered to them. What an irony that a law meant to save girls from torture was being misused to make a few extra bucks over an unfortunate death!

Once the money was given, they did not press for dowry death charges. I would consider this a gross misuse of a very timely law that had indeed put the brakes on dowry related torture of women. The laws are implemented and enforced by the police and a lot of sensitivity, humanity as well as transparency are needed from them to ensure that while the guilty do not go scot free, the innocent are not unduly harassed.

* * *

I met such a young couple a few years ago. Both the boy and the girl had obtained engineering and management degrees from prestigious institutions. They had landed good jobs, but in different cities. Before the marriage, it was agreed upon that the boy would continue to work in the city where his work place was located while the girl would move in with him and find a job in the husband’s city. Once the marriage had taken place, the girl and her parents made a volte-face. They wanted the boy to move to their town, live with them and find a job. This led to disputes and family quarrels, with the girl and her parents finally threatening to have the boy and his parents sent to jail under the dowry laws if they refused to fall in line. Even the boy’s brother and sister were mentioned as co-accused in the first information report. When we investigated the case in depth, we realised that it was employment and not dowry that was the bone of contention. Had the case been looked at superficially, the entire family of five persons would have faced arrest, public humiliation and harassment. Not that I did not sympathise with the girl. She had every right to work where she wanted, but what about the boy’s right to work in the city and organization of his choice? What about the boy’s family, who had committed no crime in this marital dispute?

Both parties were called and counselled. During the counselling the girl’s parents agreed that the real issue was not dowry related harassment. It was explained to the girl and her family that they were misusing the sensitive provisions of a very severe law, which was not justifiable. Finally both sides agreed and settled their dispute amicably. Thus a family was saved and innocents saved from imprisonment.

Legislation is, thus, only as good or as bad as the police force that enforces it.