The system of dowry is a social evil. It is a degrading practice. It corrupts the minds of the people and leaves behind it serious far-reaching consequences. It shakes off the very foundations of the family. the system of dowry is intimately connected with caste. it has reduced the caste institution of marriage to a mere commercial affair. It has led to many families’ lies to bankruptcy. it has ruined hearts and homes.
Marriages should not be an arrangement made for money by parents. The dowry has reduced womanhood to a matter of commercial transaction Gandhiji said ” A young man who makes down a condition of marriage discredits his education and his country and dishonours womanhood.
A marriage is a sacred union of two hearts. If money assumes the prominent role marriage would not lead to a union of two hearts. The evil of dowry has driven many brides to despair and their parents to bankruptcy. it tempts the bridegroom and their parents to crave ill-gotten money and gold. many educated young men and their parents resort to torturous tactics to snatch more and more money from the parents of the brides.
Dowry deaths have become very frequent these days. the sheer greed for money has corrupted the minds of the young men. thus cruel exploitation is going on in the name of the system.
The degrading practice should be stopped once and for all. the boys or girls or their parents should dare to break the bonds of caste. the girls should dare to remain, spinsters, if they do get a suitable bridegroom. Our education has failed to arm girls and boys to fight social evils. Instead of becoming proud and self-dependent persons, they are becoming selfish, greedy and dependent persons. the boys and girls who pass through colleges are found unable or unwilling to resist the evil of dowry which intimately affects the future.
Parents of girls should not be carried away by the glamour of money-fetching professions and degrees. They should show moral courage to widen the sphere of their choice. They should even be prepared to travel outside their little castes and provinces to get true gallant young men who would marry their daughters for their own sake and not for the money as dowry.
The government of India has passed the dowry prohibition act to eradicate the evil of dowry. The law states that taking or giving dowry is a cognisable offence. the punishment for the offence of demanding dowry is now a minimum of six months imprisonment going up to two years and a fine up to Rs100000
The Dowry prohibition act of 1984 has provided for more stringent actions against the offenders. however, the evil of dowry cannot be done through legislative measures.