Women are the victims of many evil practices in the society. One of them is the dowry system. The system is there in the Indian society since a very long time. Many great reformers have gained a very little or partial success to remove this social evil from the society. Legislative measures have also been taken by the state and central government but it persists in our society
When a female child is born in a Hindu family especially in northern region it is considered a bad omen for the family. Thus a female child becomes victim of the ill-conceived social customs of the society some selfish people raise a vain slogan that men are superior to women.
The dowry system is a stigma on the Indian society and is a curse for women. Such evil customs and systems are a blot on Indian society and must be done away with.
The worst sufferer of this system are the poor men, who do not find a suitable match for their girls for want of money as the demand of parents of the boys is for a very substantial amount of money. The result is that the young girl becomes a headache for her parents. There are many instances in this respect, if the girl does not bring enough dowries or the money that the boy or his parents have demanded leads to divorce. The girls are beaten to death, burnt alive or the girls after being harassed by her in laws commit suicide themselves.
This growing social evil of dowry attracted the attention of our government. It started a fight against dowry custom. It made Anti dowry act in 1961. But it received no support of the society. The administration also neglected the act. Hence this Act gave no relief to the poor and middle class people. Many states took up steps against this evil. They amended the old Anti-dowry Act. They also made new Act. Dowry was restricted to Rs. 3000/- to Rs. 5000/-. Punjab and Bihar were first to fight against this demon of dowry. They were followed by other states. People are asked to celebrate the marriages in day time with simple decoration. Road blocking and fixing shamiyanas on the public places have been banned.
There is a big challenge to the youth of the country. They should struggle against this social evil. They should not marry on the dowry condition. They should fight against the demand of dowry from their parents and should prefer a girl who does not bring dowry with them. They alone can bring a revolutionary change in the society The government should also bring a legislation to abolish the practice of dowry system as it is a curse and menace for the society We should also mobilize public opinion against the system of selling of boys. The dowry seekers should be blacklisted and publicly boycotted. If this thing is done there are some chances and hope of eliminating the dowry system from the society
