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Maharashtra Profile on Crime Against Women: DOWRY

---- Leena Mehendale, IAS

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.

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.

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

The Crime

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

• Fig 1 gives five line-graphs for the districts of all Maharashtra, 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, as evident from the graphs.

• 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. A continuous watch on the situation of dowry crimes is therefore of immense importance.

The Crime Rate

Chart 2 shows the rate of dowry death per one crore population and the percentage share of various districts in this rate. · 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

< 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

· 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.

• 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.

• 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.

Chart 3: 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.2, 3, and 4 above are various ways to compare 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 above showed 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.

 

 

 

 

comparing dowry deaths and dowry cruelty

Dowry deaths are preceded by dowry cruelties. NCRB reports all provide statistics of these crimes as recorded in each district. chart 4 shows these results.

Fig 5 below is a scatter graph of rate of dowry death Vs rate of dowry cruelty.
Similarly fig 6 is the scatter graph to compare the rate of Rape cases Vs Dowry deaths for each district. This is generated from chart 5.

 

 

 

 

The line graph at Fig 1 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.

A continuous watch on this type of statistical information once every year will provide us proper clues to get rid of this menace in time.