DOWRY is Illegal

SYED IQRA BUKHARI

Dowry means the valuable property which parents give to their daughters at the time of their marriage. It is the never ending dream of every parent to give something to their daughter as a token of love and affection when she is uprooted and planted to somewhere else, but nowadays the system has become an evil custom and a kind of burden. Dowry is standing blot on the fair name of our society. It has created a great problem in our unlettered societies. As we all are aware of the fact that maximum suicides and murders emerge in our country due to the illicit system of dowry. It has deteriorated so many families around the globe as parents from poor backgrounds are not able to fulfill the demands provided by the boy’s family. If a bride brings poor or below demanded dowry to her new home, is either tortured physically and mentally by her greedy in-laws or she is burnt alive. Enormous numbers of women are not getting married just because their parents are not able to provide considerable amount of dowry. It is excessively increasing day by day and is more prevalent in developing countries as compared to developed countries. It has become a swank for rich people. Many a times, parents, beg and borrow, sell their properties to fulfill the demands of dowry seekers. Sometimes poor parents are compelled to commit suicide as they are unable to raise necessary funds for the of their daughters marriage. It has caused low self-worth in women. In older times, brides were selected on the basis of her family background, but today dowry is the only mode of selecting a bride. As a result it has become exploitation of worst order. Every year thousands of girls get divorced because of this evil custom, which is one of the reasons that the birth of a daughter is looked upon as a bolt for blue. Female infanticide is the other reason behind this evil, which in turn leads to gender imbalance. Many women harassment cases are registered because of dowry.

MEASURES TO MANAGE DOWRY SYSTEM

• People should be made aware about the actual fact that girls are important part of our society and not the dowry and it is the woman who carries the generation forward and not the dowry.
• It is a social stigma which may be eradicated by spreading an awareness among all sections of the society as large numbers of girls are deliberately kept away from schools due to conservative traditionalism. This unjust treatment is a matter of concern even today within the 21^st  century when globalization and communication has revolutionized human civilizations and has bridged majority gaps of discrimination .Getting education is the fundamental rights of every individual, but some people in our society do not understand this.  Education should be provided to women because it is the foremost effective way to improve their lives and opens a new world of opportunities for women and offers them confidence to tackle different problems of life and become economically independent.
• Equal status should be given to women and feelings of self confidence should be generated among them.
• Illiterate persons should be educated as they are more fascinated by receiving dowry.
• Government should implement laws to eradicate this evil from society.
• People should be made aware about the actual fact that dowry is simply the wastage of money.
• Everything should be made clear before marriage in order to avoid such issues later on.
• There should be women empowerment so that they would become conscious of their rights.

It is the need of the hour that there should be an immediate end to this worst evil practice from the society.

“DO NOT MARRY IF ANY FAMILY DEMANDS DOWRY.”