Determinant factors of an abuse of the dowry law

Pages: 1536-1538
Jasleen Dua (Department of Sociology, Khalsa College for women, Amritsar, Punjab)

The Dowry law, section 304B of IPC was enacted to strengthen the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 for checking a crime namely ‘Dowry Death’ and empowering the position of an Indian Woman in this patriarchal society. But the same law is now becoming a source to harass the husband and his family by a deceased woman’s parents. Section 304-B was also incorporated to provide justice to the harassed women and a punishment to the accused but with time it has also become gender biased. In the abused cases, where a woman died in the unnatural conditions, everyone mostly doubted on her husband and In-laws only. But every time the picture is not always like that which is visible to all. The present article therefore aims to study the different reasons behind the abuse of this dowry law (section 304B) for which 60 respondents are interviewed by using the descriptive research design. The findings revealed that mental illness of respondent’s wife, sometimes her non-adjustable attitude, chronic ailment and monetary causes are some of the reasons that contribute greatly to abuse this dowry law by some unscrupulous people.