Nancy Tirthani
Etawah. Every custom in the society is initiated for some good purpose, but in the course of time, when the same practice becomes a custom and many evils arise in it, then it becomes a curse for the society. Dowry system has also become such a custom nowadays, which has taken away the happiness and peace of every person who is the father of a marriageable girl. Due to this evil practice, an important and sacred ceremony like marriage has become a ‘market for buying and selling of bridesmaids’. Nowadays, not a day goes by when the news of the murder of a young girl due to dowry is not read in the newspapers. Nowadays this practice has become a curse.
At the time of marriage, the clothes, ornaments, money, etc., given by the parents of the girl child to the bride and groom voluntarily, was called dowry. This custom is going on from time immemorial. There was no coercion in this, but over time dowry became an essential condition for the marriage of the girl child. The criterion for the eligibility of a girl was decided only by looking at the nature of dowry. Qualified girls remained unmarried due to lack of dowry or were placed around the neck of the wicked. For this reason, the life of the girls has also passed from hell.
This evil practice is proving to be a curse for the girl child as well as the parents. To give dowry, the girl’s father either takes refuge in debt or adopts corrupt practices to collect money. Seeing the deplorable condition of the parents, many girls even commit suicide.
Dowry greedy person does not get satisfied by getting dowry only on the occasion of marriage, but even after marriage, his demands from the girl’s side remain constant. When these are not fulfilled, the newlyweds are subjected to physical and mental torture and thus force them to bring dowry from their parents’ place. If they are unable to do so, they are burnt.
Now the burning question is how to get rid of this social leprosy? Will we have to go deep into the reasons for this? Although no person on the surface supports this practice, but when given the opportunity, people never miss to take dowry. To stop this, the government has made a law, but it is not strictly implemented. The dowry-geekers get a clear escape from the clutches of the law. The need is that along with the government, social service organizations should run a special campaign of public awareness and honor those people in the society who give up dowry and get married. Priority should be given to such persons in government jobs also. Making girls financially self-dependent will also prove to be a useful step.
