Unveiling the Socio-Legal Aspects of Section 304-B of IPC

Marriage is necessarily the basis of social organisation and foundation of important legal rights and obligations. Originally the guardian of a girl before or during the marriage gives dowry in the form of properties, cash , gems or any other form of wealth to help the couple in establishing a new household. With the passage of time and British rule in India the status and position of a woman degraded the status and position of women as the laws imposed by them prohibits the women from owning any property at all and this leads to the peril of the dowry system in India. This ritual gets deep rooted in the society in the form of social evil. Protecting women from these kinds of evils had always been the concern of reformers and the state. Even in the 21st century divorced women are considered a stigma on family and society. They are often forced by their family members to continue in the toxic relationship due to social pressure or to protect their prestige in society. In the analysis of a number of cases it has been found that parents send back their daughter to her matrimonial home even after knowing that she was tortured, humiliated and coerced for dowry and do not make any attempt to file a complaint against the offender. This behaviour strengthens these social evils. From a sociological point of view in case of arranged marriage, parents select the mates for their son or daughter to showcase their status symbol even if the person is imperfect on psychological or biological grounds this often leads to the misuse of provision in acting as a safeguard for women. Statistics of dowry death shows that this is the high time to control dowry related crimes and ensure dignified life for women.