The antidowry law is a shield, not a ‘weapon’

It is not wise to assume that all complaints come from ‘disgruntled’ women

India outlawed the dowry tradition in 1961 but it continues to be as much a social reality as it was five decades ago. According to Delhi Police statistics, dowry harassment allegations, filed under Section 498A almost doubled in five years, going from 2,046 new cases in 2012 to 3,877 last year. This is in contrast to the trend in other crimes such as murder, robbery, rape or dacoity, which decreased every year since 2012 or only had a marginal increase.

The number of unreported cases of dowry harassment could be sizeable too. Hindustan Times pored over all the 1,330 first investigation reports (FIRs) filed for such cases in the first six months of this year, and found that the tradition cuts across demographics. The common items demanded, according to the complaints, included gold jewellery (543 cases), refrigerators (566 cases), sofa sets (217 cases), LED television sets (26 cases), flats and land assets.

Last month, the Supreme Court restricted automatic arrests under the anti-dowry law and in 2014, a separate apex court bench called Section 498A “a weapon, not a shield used by disgruntled wives”. While this could be possibly true in a few cases, Hindustan Times’ analysis of Delhi Police’s data proves again that it would not be wise to assume that all complaints come from ‘disgruntled’ women. It would be prudent to be careful before assuming that every woman complaining about an abusive family or dowry harassment is “disgruntled” or wishes to exact revenge.