THE DOWRY SYSTEM

PRESENTED BY
N S S GOWTHAM GANESH
Introduction
Dowry 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
History
Dowry 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,lecturer
s, 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.


SUGGESTIONS
Awareness
Education
Stringent Punishments
Enforcement Mechanisms to be
strengthened
CONCLUSSION


Only a consistent persistent and
co-operative effort can solve the
problem