Terming dowry a “cross-cultural evil” cutting across religions, the Supreme Courtof India has said in a judgment that the “social strategy” to marry daughters to “higher status families” has come at a great cost to the rights of women.
Dowry cases rise by 14% in 2023; over 6,100 women killed: NCRB
In the present case, a 20-year-old girl died as her parents could not pay up for a colour television, a motorcycle, and ₹15,000. The judgment by a Bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N.K. Singh said “she was apparently only worth that much” for her in-laws.
“This practice of marrying ‘higher up’ traces its origins to caste and kinship along with, to use a colloquial term, the ‘baggage of the samaj ’ (society) that comes with it. Since lineage is traced through the patriarchal line, the desire to marry daughters into equal or higher status families ensured that their offspring retained or enhanced the family’s standing. Hypergamy thus became both a social strategy and a religiously sanctioned norm,” Justice Karol, who authored the recent judgment, observed.
Also Read | Dowry deaths in India: Long investigations, rare convictions
