Vismaya, Athulya, Rithanya, and now Nikki Bhati. The stories of these women are discussed every time a dowry death hits the headlines.
In each of these women's stories, there has been celebration and grandeur of a union that later turned ugly and torturous in demand for more dowry, leading to their deaths.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 35,493 brides died in India between 2017 and 2022, which averages to nearly 20 deaths a day over dowry demands. In this period, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of dowry deaths, followed by Bihar and Jharkhand in the top three positions.
In the 2022 NCRB data sheet, 6450 dowry death cases have been recorded where as the number of convicted rape cases that year has been 5067.
Section 80 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023, terms dowry death as " Where the death of a woman is caused by any burns or bodily injury or occurs otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of her marriage and it is shown that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry, such death shall be called “dowry death”, and such husband or relative shall be deemed to have caused her death."
Many questions arise as to what if the harassment occurs after seven years.
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Nikki was allegedly set ablaze in Greater Noida's Sirsa village on August 21. Her family said they gifted her in-laws a Scorpio, a motorcycle and gold during the wedding in 2016. But there was no satiating the demand and they were later presented with a fresh demand of Rs 36 lakh and a luxury car.
Social conditioning, a lack of progressiveness, and awareness are some of the reasons that drive people to engage in these criminal acts. With the educated encouraging disguised forms of dowry through 'gifting', the onus of putting a stop to these criminal acts lies in changing the perception of such acts.
With very low conviction rates, policymakers and authorities need to look beyond the loopholes of the law that prohibits dowry to bring down the crime rates in the country. India also needs better enforcement and a cultural shift.
