By P. Jayaram
India Correspondent
jayaram@sph.com.sg

 

IN NEW DELHI

BRITISH medical journal, The Lancet, recently confirmed what the Indians know already.

Thousands of young women, aged mostly in 15-34 age group, are killed in fires in the country every year. The "fires" refered to in the article are mostly a result of blatant domestic abuse.

"Domestic abuse is a serious problem in India. Women are sometimes killed in disputes over dowries; often in such disputes the victims are doused with gasoline and set ablaze, and their deaths are claimed as kitchen accidents," the journal said.

It put the figure of such deaths at 100,000 a year.

"Dowry Deaths" or "Bride Burning", where the daughter-in-law is doused in kerosene, set ablaze in the kitchen and the incident reported to authorities as an accident have been shamefully common in the male-dominated society.

Most of the time, the perpetrators of the crime get away due to lack of evidence. In rare cases, the victims have survived to make a dying statement accusing the in-laws for the atrocity.

Even though the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 makes give or take of dowry a punishable offence from minimum seven years to a life sentence, it has not acted as a deterrent in the country, where corrupt officialdom and loopholes in law have mostly favoured the offenders.

According to official data, on an average, one Indian woman commits suicide every four hours over a dowry dispute.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) lists a total of 2,276 female suicides due to dowry disputes in 2006, that is six a day on an average.

Now, the Law Commission has recommended increasing the minimum sentence from 7 to 10 years in dowry death cases.

It has, however, declined the suggestion by the National Commission for Women and women’s rights groups to increase the maximum punishment from life imprisonment to death.

Marriages in India are usually arranged by parents and the young bride moves in with the in-laws soon after.

The newly wed is expected to switch her affections overnight to her husband's family and the girl's parents have limited say in her personal life after her that.

The woman often finds herself at the mercy of the new family members. Her conduct, expected to be perfect, influences their treatment of her, but it is not always reciprocrated in kind.

Strict traditional boundaries make it impossible for her to complain of ill-treatment, which is why the offenders get a free hand at ill-treatment.

In most cases, greedy in-laws start placing demands with the girl's parents for anything from an apartment to jewelery, to cars and cash.

This is in return for a "happy future" of their daughter.

Most parent's relent, those who can not meet the demands often get a phone-call informing them about their daughter's "accidental" death.

Lack of evidence usually lets the groom go scot-free, to try his luck in the marriage market again.

But, all is not lost.

A few years ago, Ms. Nisha Sharma, 23, a computer science student in Delhi cancelled her own wedding just before it was to take place and reported the groom and his family to the police for demanding dowry.

She became an instant celebrity across India.

Her photographs, sitting before unopened cartons of brand new air-conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines to be given as dowry to the groom and his family, were splashed in newspapers.

The incident brought home the evil of dowry system in the Indian society, but it also kindled hope that the new generation of women are not going to be treated as mere 'for sale' commodities with an expiry date.

Nisha’s example was followed by some other young brides too.

And if the trend catches on, that would be a different kind of blaze which will set the country on fire.

The fire of revolution.