Kill Dowry - Free the Bride

Kaajal Gunputh Kaajal Gunputh Aug 14, 2018 1011 0

Kill Dowry - Free the Bride
Bride

 

After staying in India for past four years; I can tell you that India is a country full of surprises and of countless colors.  From the big posh cities and malls to small muddy roads, from highly educated rich people to poor illiterate souls, from beautiful green forests to shabby acres of slums, the country has it all.

The dowry system is an old custom which still prevails in India across many states and social classes. It is the act where the bride’s family gives away a lot of valuables in terms of cash money or gifts to the bridegroom’s family as a token of thanks for accepting their daughter. This custom has gradually changed from an option or wish to an absolute requirement if you want to get your daughter married in India. From a sign of affection, it is now a compulsion to the bride’s family and often used to mark the prestige and value of the bridegroom’s family.

 

Very often the groom’s family will be placing their demands as follows:

“A car for your daughter to travel in.”

“A house for your daughter to live comfortably in.”

“Gold jewelries to secure your daughter’s future.”

These demands usually masks dowry as a gift and facilitate extortion from the family. Dowry stories usually do not end with the wedding but still goes on for all festivals and other occasions. In many cases, where dowry demands are not met, brides are tortured both mentally and physically and in some cases even sent back to their parent’s house.

In India, marriage is of great importance, a girl may be highly educated, financially stable and doing great in her career but if she is not married, she is considered incomplete by the society. Keeping this mindset in mind, the girl’s family most of the time just keep quiet and blindly accept to the groom’s demand. In fact somewhere the increase in female infanticide rate is mainly due to dowry system, as giving birth to a girl represents a burden on the father’s head as he needs to start arranging for the dowry right from the moment the girl is born. Many girls are even deprived of their education because parents prefer to arrange for the dowry instead of spending money on the daughter’s education.

India has been fighting a long and unsuccessful battle against dowry system for long. Legislations have been set up, laws put in force, amended to be more rigid but to no avail. This custom has not left untouched any part of the society. It can be seen in one form or the other in all classes of the society.
While we can’t stop the doer, maybe we can stop the supporter. Parents have to realize that their daughters are worth much more than these demands and they should learn to say NO!

 

Parents should learn to invest in their daughter’s education rather than in her dowry. Let’s make our daughters more educated, strong, self confident and self esteemed. Let us teach them to have the courage to voice out and walk out of any abusive and violent marriage.  Dowry should not be the key to her happily married life. Let us teach our daughters that they deserve to be loved, respected and accepted without having to pay any price!

Let’s come together to kill the dowry system and prove that the life of every single woman matters! Let’s together say no to beaten, abused, poisoned, hanged, burned and strangulated brides!