Judicial safeguards against dowry deaths

Judicial safeguards against dowry deaths
A study of the existing Indian legal system against this type of crime is critical

Despite the fact that women account for nearly half of the world’s population, they face particular obstacles due to gender differences. They have been victimized and degraded by an overwhelmingly male society all over the world and have been abused socially, emotionally, economically, and sexually since time immemorial in the name of religion, rituals, and social sanctions. 

The 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) states, “All people are born free and equal in equality and privileges.” However, in the last two to three decades, women’s rights, integrity, and equality have been slowly undermined around the world. There have been many global attempts to protect women’s rights so far. It includes the Decade for Women (1975-85), international women’s conferences, amendments to the Beijing Declaration, and an action platform. Women’s rights have developed slowly across the world as a result of all of this. 

Indian women are still unfree, exploited, marketed, and repossessed without regulation more than 65 years after independence, held by coercive and unlawful combinations. Domestic violence against women has become more prevalent over the decades. 

Despite the Parliament’s 2005 Domestic Violence Act, women are still subjected to violence, primarily by their husbands or relatives, dowry deaths, severe heart attacks, and other types of violence. Indeed, in our country, a crimes-third graph of massacres against women has risen alarmingly in the cases of dowry killings, bridles, honour killings, and suicide, among other items. The dowry-related murders and suicides are such horrific crimes that they make society deeply regrettable.

New provisions in the Indian Panels Code, namely sections 304B and 498A, are added to resolve dowry killing and brutality by husbands or husband’s family. 

With section 113A and section 113B, where certain facts have been found and a disaster occurred within 7 years of marriage, the prosecution’s powers have been strengthened by enabling the presumption to be removed, thus raising the prosecution’s power. 

It is important to remember that crimes against married women are usually committed within their homes. Dowry deaths can be found in the interior corners of the bride’s in-laws’ home. Dowry deaths is a crime that cannot be proved directly. After that, the courts must rely on the credible facts. 

Of course, every effort has been made to regulate it by legislation. It’s true. The 1961 Dowry Prohibition Act, which was passed by parliament and some states has not subsidized the far-reaching amendments to the Act in the war against the bad guys.

So it seems that there are no doubts about legal standards, but how well do they protect women’s rights? The legal system, at the advanced stage, is conscious of this social melody, but the reform is a poor replacement for injustices and exploitation of affected families. Various judicial officials display a lack of respect for the reckless manner in which bride-burning cases are prosecuted. The husbands escape punishment due to various deficiencies in our current criminal justice system. As a result, a study of the existing Indian legal system against this type of crime is critical. The justification for a specific piece of legislation affecting women’s protection would then be explained. The efficient operation of family courts, the role of various NGOs and the National Committee of Women, and recommended legislation to its implications must all play a significant role in this regard.

Shafiqa Gul is a research scholar at Islamic University of Science and Technology