Crime Against Women: DOWRY deaths in Maharashtra

 

---Leena Mehendale

 

          Dowry is undoubtedly  a stigma on the Indian society.  A girl leaves her parental house around the age of 20 years and accepts the matrimonial house as her home where she would spend the rest of life.  Her well-being, sense of security, confidence and empowerment, everything depends on the treatment that she gets during the initial period immediately after the marriage.  The menace of dowry torture increased so much during the last twenty years that now it has become a threat to the sense of well-being of the newly married girl.  After a large number of cases of dowry torture and dowry deaths came to be reported, the Dowry Prohibition Act which was passed by the government of India in 1961 was twice modified and made further stringent in 1984 and 1986.  Now there is a provision that if any girl dies within the first seven years of marriage, then it shall be presumed that there was an element of dowry harassment and torture. The punishment for demanding dowry has been increased to 5 years of imprisonment, dowry harassment has been made a non- bailable offence, and demanding financial gratification even after marriage has been included in the definition of dowry demand.

          Even then the crime of dowry has continued unabated.  This has become another reason for parents to feel worried about the worth of a girl child.  This in turn has led to many instances of female infanticide, female foeticide and now rejecting female foetus by a pre-sex-selection technology in which a huge bunch of male sperms are vigourously churned to separate sperms containing xx and xy chromosomes, and the female egg from the mother is selectively fertilized by the sperm containing xy chromosomes only and inserted in the mother’s womb, thus blanking out all possibilities of conceiving a girl child.  All this has resulted in a heavy imbalance in the female male sex ratio which is a pre-cursor of a societal violence. The female –male sex ratio in the age group of 0-6, was only 927 by 2001 as seen in the latest census. Such social and demographic considerations have to be kept in mind while analysing the crime record of dowry deaths.

 

          The crime of dowry death started getting reported in the NCRB only from 1995 onwards.

 

          As a part of my study of crimes against women in Maharashtra, I analysed the five year data from 1995 to 1999 as available in these reports, and came up with some notable facts, which will provide the basis for making any policy recommendations.

1.       Chart 1 shows a districtwise and revenue divisionwise details of dowry deaths registered by police between the period 1995 to 1999 alongwith the five-year average and the rate of dowry deaths per one crore of population.  It is seen that every year around 400 dowry deaths have occurred in Maharashtra that comes to 45 dowry deaths per crore population.

2.       The first 10 districts showing very high number of dowry deaths are Dhule, Latur, Mumbai, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Nanded, Parbhani, Pune, Satara and Buldhana.

 

·        In terms of rate of perpetration of this crime, only Mumbai and Pune get excluded from the above list of top 10 and we find that Osmanabad and Jalna show higher rate of crime than Mumbai and Pune.  (chart 2)

·        In short, all the districts of Marathwada namely Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani, Nanded, Latur and Osmanabad (except Beed) show a high rate of dowry  crime against women.


Chart 1

< dist.

popln96

(000)

dowd95

dowd96

dowd97

dowd98

dowd99

5 yr tot

ave

rate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mumbai+

15000

27

34

49

52

69

231

46

31

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SINDHUDURG

859

0

1

1

0

0

2

0

5

RATNAGIRI

1633

0

1

0

0

2

3

1

4

RAIGAD

2020

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

thane +

6979

6

2

10

6

10

34

7

10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KOLHAPUR

3295

37

34

27

31

53

182

36

110

SANGLI

2422

14

16

11

11

4

56

11

46

solapur+

3595

31

17

16

13

3

80

16

45

SATARA

2685

20

17

16

19

12

84

17

63

pune+

6389

38

20

18

15

3

94

19

29

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

nashik+

4384

10

6

10

7

15

48

10

22

dhule+

2818

46

54

55

60

48

263

53

187

JALGAON

3515

2

0

1

1

1

5

1

3

AHMEDNAGAR

3757

5

2

1

1

0

9

2

5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

aurangabad+

2161

66

50

17

19

13

165

33

153

JALNA

1567

14

12

5

5

5

41

8

52

parbhani+

2400

21

27

22

27

9

106

21

88

NANDED

2684

32

19

16

20

21

108

22

80

BEED

2065

5

9

2

5

5

26

5

25

LATUR

1907

40

56

45

45

60

246

49

258

OSMANABAD

1419

6

14

6

12

5

43

9

61

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BULDHANA

2106

14

14

38

10

7

83

17

79

akola+

2435

1

2

3

4

4

14

3

11

amravati+

2390

11

8

11

20

4

54

11

45

YAVATMAL

2270

5

1

11

12

5

34

7

30

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bhandara+

2256

6

7

5

6

7

31

6

27

nagpur+

3718

5

6

10

7

12

40

8

22

WARDHA

1144

2

3

4

3

1

13

3

23

CHANDRAPUR

1980

2

3

2

0

1

8

2

8

GADCHIROLI

874

2

0

1

1

1

5

1

11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

all maha

92727

468

435

413

412

380

2108

422

45

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


·        This is in stark contrast with the fact that the districts of Nagpur and Amravati divisions have very high rate of rapes against women but a much lower rate of dowry deaths.  On the other hand Marathwada division shows low rates of rapes against women but very high rates of dowry deaths. We shall discuss this later.

·        Fig 1 gives five line-graphs for the districts of Dhule, Latur,        Mumbai, Kolhapur and Aurangabad over the period of five years.

·        Mumbai and Kolhapur have shown an alarmingly increasing trends over these five years.

·        Aurangabad shows a sudden drop in the crimes which is unaccounted for.  The drop from 66 in 1995 to 13 in 1999 is unbelievable to say the least.  The only comment that is possible for such a reporting is that absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.

·        Chart 3 below is an interesting list of districts where the dowry death reporting is either too low (such as Ahmednagar and Yavatmal) or where a sudden drop in the number is detectable, similar to the situation in Aurangabad.

 Faulty reporting  ???

< dist.

popln96

dowd95

dowd96

dowd97

dowd98

dowd99

SANGLI

2422

14

16

11

11

4

solapur+

3595

31

17

16

13

3

SATARA

2685

20

17

16

19

12

Pune+

6389

38

20

18

15

3

AHMEDNAGAR

3757

5

2

1

1

0

aurangabad+

2161

66

50

17

19

13

JALNA

1567

14

12

5

5

5

parbhani+

2400

21

27

22

27

9

BULDHANA

2106

14

14

38

10

7

amravati+

2390

11

8

11

20

4

YAVATMAL

2270

5

1

11

12

5

tot of 11

 

239

184

166

152

65

all maha

92727

468

435

413

412

380

all-11

 

229

251

247

260

315

% of 11 to all

 

51.1

42.3

40.2

36.9

17.1

 

 

                   Fig.4 is a comparison between the share of the districts in the total crimes of dowry deaths and their share in the total population of the State.  It is found that Latur, Dhule, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Parbhani, Nanded, Buldhana and Satara contribute much more to this crime than their share in the population.

 

          Chart 2 shows the rate of dowry death per one crore population and the percentage share of various districts in this rate.  The extremely high rate of dowry deaths in Latur goes beyond all possible justification.  In 1992, 15 to 20 villages in Latur suffered unprecedented world scale earthquake killing more than 50,000 people and devastating huge chunks of land.  One expected that such a calamity would change the mind-set of people and take them away from such greeds and consumerism as are at the root cause of dowry deaths but the facts as indicated here are contrary to these expectations.  Perhaps it is necessary to see the record of dowry deaths in the earthquake-hit villages and compare it with the record of the other villages.

 

          Among all the district, most surprising results are shown by Dhule which has highest rate of dowry deaths.  Dhule has a large tribal population.  Hence there is a need to disaggregate this data talukawise.  It is also necessary to analyze who are the victims of this crime. It is noteworthy that the tribals of Dhule have a better average for land-holdings compared to other tribal districts where most of the tribals are landless.

It is worthwhile to compare  Marathwada and Nagpur divisions. Nagpur is a comparatively more developed division with better rating in a variety of indicators like land holdings, rain fall, good crops, higher literacy rate, better mineral resources and industrialization etc. The rate of dowry related crimes in all its districts  is much lower while the rape % are very high as compared to rates in  the districts of Marathwada division. What is the sociological factor responsible? One possibility is that increase in educational levels leads to greater  awareness which in turn leads to proper reporting of  rape crimes without  fearing the social stigma. Another reason was suggested by a semi –literate, middle –class, rural woman when she read my Marathi article on rape analysis. She argued that  most of the young girls in rural areas are taught that their adult life will begin and end in ‘chulha  from which there is no escape. They see around themselves all elderly ladies going through the same plight whether it is mother or elder sister or sister- in- law. The only way out seems to be through education and employment, the search of which often leads to allurements, temptations and trapping by unscrupulous men and rapes. This perhaps explains the higher rate of rapes in Nagpur division or various sex scandals in bigger cities like Jalgaon and Satara.

If this perception is correct, women today face a Hobson’s choice. If they are not economically empowered, they face dowry torture or death within the household. If they seek economic empowerment, they have to face sexual exploitation or violence outside the household ! Must the choice before Indian women be so stark?

The preferred situation is where women can seek economic freedom without fear of violence or stay at home without facing domestic volence. Alaka Basu’s description (Basu, 1992) of the mother who does not work for economic earning, but knows that work is at hand if the need arises, as being the ‘best placed woman’ will strike a chord among many a women.

But this brings us squarely to the issue of the rule of law and the efficacy of the system of justice. Only when these function effectively, can the women be safe whether they choose to work or stay at home. When these do not function effectively, those who perpetrate violence on women, and those who see them getting away unpunished, feel emboldened to torture, to kill, to blackmail or to rape.

The superstructure of economic empowerment therefore rests on the foundation of safety. In a graphical sense, the status of women rests on three links of a chain, education, safety and availability of economic opportunity. If all these links are firm then she is secure; if any one is weak she faces risks. It is useful to remember that a chain snaps at its weakest link, not at the strongest. The three factors therefore need to link up together rather than assume competing posture either academically or in terms of policy. The nature of  crime against women may become a powerful barometer for locating the weak links in different geographic regions.

 

 

 

 

Chart 2   culprit districts ???

< dist.

popln96

dowd95

dowd96

dowd97

dowd98

dowd99

5 yr tot

ave

rate

DHULE+

 

46

54

55

60

48

263

53

187

LATUR

 

40

56

45

45

60

246

49

258

mumbai+

 

27

34

49

52

69

231

46

31

KOLHAPUR

 

37

34

27

31

53

182

36

110

AURANGABAD +

 

66

50

17

19

13

165

33

153

NANDED

 

32

19

16

20

21

108

22

80

PARBHANI+

 

21

27

22

27

9

106

21

88

pune+

 

38

20

18

15

3

94

19

29

SATARA

 

20

17

16

19

12

84

17

63

BULDHANA

 

14

14

38

10

7

83

17

79

osmana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

61

jalna

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

52

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

<dist

dd rate>

%contribution

 LATUR

258

17

DHULE+

187

14

AURANGABAD +

153

13

KOLHAPUR

110

11

PARBHANI+

88

10

NANDED

80

10

BULDHANA

79

11

SATARA

63

10

OSMANABAD

61

11

JALNA

52

10

SANGLI

46

10

AMRAVATI+

45

11

SOLAPUR+

45

13

bombay+

31

10

YAVATMAL

30

11

PUNE+

29

12

BHANDARA

27

12

BEED

25

13

WARDHA

23

13

NASIK+

22

15

NAGPUR+

22

17

AKOLA+

11

11

GADCHIROLI

11

13

THANE+

10

12

CHANDRAPUR

8

12

AHMEDNAGAR

5

8

SINDHUDURG

5

8

RATNAGIRI

4

7

JALGAON

3

6

RAIGAD

0

0

all maha

45

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

<<dist, sort dd

share in dd

share/cru

sh in popln

diff dd-pop>>

dhule+

12.5

3.0

3

9.5

LATUR

11.7

2.1

2.1

9.6

mumbai+

11

3.6

16.2

-5.2

KOLHAPUR

8.6

1.3

3.6

5.0

auragabad+

7.8

5.9

2.3

5.5

NANDED

5.1

3.7

2.9

2.2

PARBHANI

5

6.1

2.6

2.4

pune+

4.5

4.0

6.9

-2.4

SATARA

4

2.4

2.9

1.1

BULDHANA

3.9

5.1

2.3

1.6

solapur+

3.8

1.4

3.9

-0.1

SANGLI

2.7

1.5

2.6

0.1

amravati+

2.6

5.1

2.6

0.0

nashik+

2.3

5.8

4.7

-2.4

OSMANABAD

2

1.0

1.5

0.5

JALNA

1.9

2.7

1.7

0.2

nagpur+

1.9

4.4

4

-2.1

thane+

1.6

3.1

7.5

-5.9

YAVATMAL

1.6

5.1

2.4

-0.8

bhandara+

1.5

3.6

2.4

-0.9

BEED

1.2

2.9

2.2

-1.0

akola+

0.7

6.9

2.6

-1.9

WARDHA

0.6

2.5

1.2

-0.6

AHMEDNAGAR

0.4

6.7

4.1

-3.7

CHANDRAPUR

0.4

2.9

2.1

-1.7

GADCHIROLI

0.2

1.2

0.9

-0.7

JALGAON

0.2

4.7

3.8

-3.6

RATNAGIRI

0.1

0.7

1.8

-1.7

SINDHUDURG

0.1

0.2

0.9

-0.8

RAIGAD

0

0.4

2.2

-2.2

all maha

100

100.0

100

0.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The map below shows the average no of dowry deaths in maharashtra during 1995 to 1999

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

<district sort

rate Rp 96

dd rate 95

GADCHIROLI

515

23

AMRAVATI

418

46

WARDHA

402

17

BHANDARA

359

27

CHANDRAPUR

349

10

YAVATMAL

304

22

NAGPUR.

301

13

AURANGABAD

194

305

  AKOLA

177

4

BULDHANA

176

66

THANE

153

9

SINDHUDURG

140

0

PUNE

135

59

JALNA

134

89

SOLAPUR

120

86

NASIK

119

23

AHMEDNAGAR

117

13

LATUR

115

210

JALGAON

114

6

BEED

111

24

DHULE

103

163

MUMBAI

102

18

SATARA

101

74

PARBHANI

100

88

RAIGAD

74

0

SANGLI

74

58

NANDED

71

119

OSMANABAD

70

42

RATNAGIRI

67

0

KOLHAPUR

49

112

all maha

154.6

50

 

<<dist, sort dd

share in dd

share/cru

 

dhule+

12.5

3.0

 

LATUR

11.7

2.1

 

mumbai+

11

3.6

 

KOLHAPUR

8.6

1.3

 

auragabad+

7.8

5.9

 

NANDED

5.1

3.7

 

PARBHANI

5

6.1

 

pune+

4.5

4.0

 

SATARA

4

2.4

 

BULDHANA

3.9

5.1

 

solapur+

3.8

1.4

 

SANGLI

2.7

1.5

 

amravati+

2.6

5.1

 

nashik+

2.3

5.8

 

OSMANABAD

2

1.0

 

JALNA

1.9

2.7

 

nagpur+

1.9

4.4

 

thane+

1.6

3.1

 

YAVATMAL

1.6

5.1

 

bhandara+

1.5

3.6

 

BEED

1.2

2.9

 

akola+

0.7

6.9

 

WARDHA

0.6

2.5

 

A’NAGAR

0.4

6.7

 

CHANDRAPUR

0.4

2.9

 

GADCHIROLI

0.2

1.2

 

JALGAON

0.2

4.7

 

RATNAGIRI

0.1

0.7

 

SINDHUDURG

0.1

0.2

 

RAIGAD

0

0.4

 

all maha

100

100.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The line graph at Fig 5 shows how the total number of dowry deaths recorded all over the state has continuously declined. It is hard to believe that societal attitudes changed overnight or that the very fact of dowry deaths being monitored by the National Crime records bureau persuaded greedy in-laws into refraining from the crime. Or, was it the impact of the social pressure generated by women activists ? Partly, yes! A friend holding high rank in police had a different explanation. The crime of dowry death has to be

registered and investigated only by a very senior police official, not below the rank of inspector . Once registered, it is also more critically watched by higher officers. It attracts more flack by them than a murder would do. After the very first year, The thana incharges started finding it uncomfortable to register the dowry deaths and then face all questions of the seniors, hence, the decline in subsequent years. If correct, this analysis would be pointing to a very disturbing trend of suppression of facts.

                                                                                                        The figures of dowry torture, however, tell a different story. The rate of dowry tortures is quite high in Marathwada , Nagpur and Amravati divisions. This, in a way, raises a doubt about the low figures of dowry death in the two latter divisions.

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dist

pop96

(000)

Cruel

95

Cruel

96

Cruel

97

Cruel

98

Cruel

99

5 yr

 tot

ave

Rate/

crore

Share

/cru

Share

/pop

diff

Share

/ rate

mumbai+

15000

435

222

234

284

292

1467

293

196

3.6

16.2

-12.6

0.6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SINDHUDURG

859

18

19

16

19

11

83

17

193

0.2

0.9

-0.7

0.6

RATNAGIRI

1633

36

67

53

60

55

271

54

332

0.7

1.8

-1.1

1.0

RAIGAD

2020

22

35

26

47

35

165

33

163

0.4

2.2

-1.8

0.5

thane+

6979

81

292

252

322

299

1246

249

357

3.1

7.5

-4.5

1.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KOLHAPUR

3295

93

101

107

102

114

517

103

314

1.3

3.6

-2.3

1.0

LI

2422

137

110

132

126

117

622

124

514

1.5

2.6

-1.1

1.6

solapur+

3595

107

107

97

125

118

554

111

308

1.4

3.9

-2.5

1.0

SATARA

2685

166

215

191

203

218

993

199

740

2.4

2.9

-0.5

2.3

pune+

6389

354

330

330

327

297

1638

328

513

4.0

6.9

-2.9

1.6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

nashik+

4384

515

456

426

502

464

2363

473

1078

5.8

4.7

1.1

3.4

dhule+

2818

255

225

200

262

263

1205

241

855

3.0

3.0

-0.1

2.7

JALGAON

3515

273

462

388

378

393

1894

379

1078

4.7

3.8

0.9

3.4

A’NAGAR

3757

614

579

482

536

529

2740

548

1459

6.7

4.1

2.7

4.6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

auragabad+

2161

441

480

477

511

475

2384

477

2206

5.9

2.3

3.5

7.0

JALNA

1567

310

232

196

182

190

1110

222

1417

2.7

1.7

1.0

4.5

PARBHANI

2400

598

569

544

440

328

2479

496

2066

6.1

2.6

3.5

6.5

NANDED

2684

312

347

317

304

241

1521

304

1133

3.7

2.9

0.8

3.6

BEED

2065

251

308

224

222

179

1184

237

1146

2.9

2.2

0.7

3.6

LATUR

1907

139

174

193

161

184

851

170

893

2.1

2.1

0.0

2.8

OSMANABAD

1419

77

82

102

77

80

418

84

589

1.0

1.5

-0.5

1.9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BULDHANA

2106

494

507

452

389

250

2092

418

1987

5.1

2.3

2.9

6.3

akola+

2435

667

761

615

440

327

2810

562

2308

6.9

2.6

4.3

7.3

amravati+

2390

576

450

364

357

305

2052

410

1717

5.1

2.6

2.5

5.4

YAVATMAL

2270

573

577

535

148

223

2056

411

1812

5.1

2.4

2.6

5.7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bhandara+

2256

291

333

335

283

210

1452

290

1287

3.6

2.4

1.1

4.1

nagpur+

3718

480

478

342

162

326

1788

358

962

4.4

4.0

0.4

3.0

WARDHA

1144

146

213

184

222

237

1002

200

1751

2.5

1.2

1.2

5.5

CHANDRAPUR

1980

200

293

181

273

230

1177

235

1189

2.9

2.1

0.8

3.8

GADCHIROLI

874

99

132

116

78

67

492

98

1126

1.2

0.9

0.3

3.6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

all maha

92726

8760

9156

8111

7542

7057

40626

8125

876

100.0

100.0

0.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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