News flash: Dowry is illegal, but 'by law'

A man from Muzaffarnagar recently made national news for refusing to accept dowry of ₹31 lakh. Welcome as his action is, hailing him for his 'quiet act of resistance' is rather ironic, considering Dowry Prohibition Act - a law prohibiting the giving or taking of dowry - has been in existence since 1961. Effectively, he was being feted for following the law.

Breaking laws in many spheres in India is the rule, not an exception. Flouting traffic rules, littering public spaces, rampant use of vehicular horns near hospitals and schools, and bursting firecrackers beyond regulation time are just a few other things that Indians have come to see as their way of life despite regulation or prohibition on paper.

An overwhelming number of dowry-related cases come about only when Section 85 of BNS (earlier Section 498A of IPC) - cruelty by a husband or his relatives towards a married woman - comes into play. This is akin to hauling up someone for drunk driving only if the driver hits a pedestrian. Such a laissez-faire attitude to illegality not only endorses the practice of dowry, but also punctures the very notion of lawful-unlawful itself.


We need to change our approach from being reactive to proactive with law. This will normalise the very notion of legality and drive home the point that de jure is meant to be de facto, and not a societal fig leaf. This would mean reading out the law to law enforcers, who will have to understand that laws are only as useful as their implementation. Without such an effort, it is impossible to transform or abandon practices that have become so inimical to our society. For being viksit is as much about a society having a developed sense of what is lawful and what is not, as it is about fast trains and tall buildings.