Dowry: A life consuming evil
By: Tabiya Mukhtar
Dowry is a life-taking evil and a senseless tradition. We all are aware of it but no one is taking a single step against it. It is becoming omnipresent with each passing day. It has many deadly outcomes.
The practice of dowry system has inflicted mental and physical torture, harassment, insults and even death of women and their families. Dowry is complete injustice with women and does not give women equal status in society.
This creates mess and negativity in environment. It has been practised in India since centuries. It mainly pressurizes the uneducated girls from poor families who are not aware of laws. Laws are also becoming useless as there is no change in it.
There are many causes responsible for this. The first is that it is an orthodox or primitive thinking prevalent in our society. Even in this modern era, orthodoxy is almost found in every person. This hurts the cause of girls.
The second is the bad attitude of boys. They think it is their right to demand whatever they can from the girl’s family.
The third is religiosity. In the garb of religions, girls are forced to bring dowry from their homes. The fourth is economic compulsion. Generally girls are dependent on others. They think dowry will help them in the hard times.
To curb this menace, every sane person has to come forward. It can be solved by many ways such as educating girls. Girls must be educated and made aware of self-defence and laws.
It is a fact that our society also needs improvement. As before changing the world, we should change ourselves. Women should be made independent and brave enough to fight for themselves through many ways.
Change in attitudes is important. The government should also strictly apply laws against dowry. Police also must take serious actions towards dowry cases. Women should take help of the laws that are made in this regard. As per laws, demanding dowry is a strictly punishable crime. Therefore, we all must come forward to fight against this evil.
(The author is a student of class 9)
