Dowry and Its Legal / Regulatory Framework - A Philosophical Analysis

Introduction: India is known to the world as the house to the most culturally diverse and demographically-unique population, it is also acknowledged as the world?s fifth largest economy. Owing to its large population and rich natural resources, India is soon to become one of the world?s biggest industrial hubs, of manufacturing, import and export. India has also created countless breakthroughs in science, technology and medicine. Our country is however, plagued by many ancient practices, practices found both discriminatory and immoral, practices which have been operated in the name of religion and customs, among many of these practices one that has still run deep in our country?s veins is Dowry. Dowry is a prominent practice found in the Hindu religion, in simple terms it is basically a gift usually found in the form of cash, gold or property, this practice was predominant during the medieval times in our country, most importantly with further developments Dowry had become a legal necessity to get married. This research paper is aimed at understanding the philosophy behind Dowry and how the other laws and provisions enacted to combat dowry has worked and operated in these modern times. One must keep in mind that this is was deemed to be a customary practice by many scholars at the same time it was found highly discriminatory, especially to Hindu women. The main of this paper will be to understand how dowry as a custom had operated in India and how the various laws enacted to inhibit have fared against this and in conclusion to understand the underlying philosophy of both the customs and the laws. Research Problem: Dowry as a customary practice is not protected the same way other customary practices are owing to the fact that it is discriminatory. What is the philosophy of dowry and is inhibiting it the right thing to do?