Are Indian women in Kerala facing abuse and death over wedding dowries?
- At least four young women have died recently in suspected cases of abuse by their husbands and in-laws over the size of their dowries
- The spate of deaths are a blight to Kerala’s reputation as a state with progressive indicators, such as having India’s top literacy rate and highest sex ratio
At least four young women, all aged below 25, have lost their lives in the past weeks under suspicious circumstances, including a 21-year-old who died on Sunday in what police believe was a suicide after she was allegedly ill-treated by her husband and mother-in-law.
The victims’ families have pressed charges against the husbands and their relatives for dowry harassment, a growing phenomenon in which men and in-laws dissatisfied over dowry amounts carry out physical or mental abuse against the new brides.
“It has been six decades since dowry has been banned in the country. Still dowry has been given and accepted in various forms and quantities. This is a social evil of utmost gravity,” said Kerala’s chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on June 23.
“The yardstick for a family’s dignity shouldn’t be what was given to a bride and how much,” he added. “Those who think in that way should remember that they are making their children to be products for sale.”
In the dowry custom, parents of Indian brides give a groom’s family cash, gold, cars, property or other assets, believing this would provide their daughter with financial stability. The size of a dowry typically depends on the groom’s education level, profession, and family status.
