Crime
Against Women: DOWRY deaths in Maharashtra
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
·
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
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
|
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
|
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
|
2435
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
4
|
14
|
3
|
11
|
|
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
|
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
|
Share of each district --
·
This is in
stark contrast with the fact that the districts of Nagpur Amravati
·
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
|
||||||||
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.
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.
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
|
What is the share in dowry, share in all types of cruelty against women, and share in population of each district ??
<
|
share/ dd
|
share/cru
|
sh/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
|
CHART 5
district sort Rp rate
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
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.
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