SOCIOLOGY

ANALYSIS OF NEWSPAPER EDITORIALS

DOWRY DEATHS IN KERALA

SUBMITTED TO:
PROF. T. KANNAN

SUBMITTED BY:
HARSHITHA ADARI
YEAR I, SEMESTER I
2021-5LLB-04

NALSAR UNIVERSITY OF LAW, HYDERABAD

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................2
The Issue in Kerala.................................................................................................................2
METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................................3
ANALYSIS OF EDITORIALS.................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................7

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 INTRODUCTION

Dowry is the cash or valuable gifts given by the bride’s family to the bridegroom. This
concept began as parents of the bride used to give wealth or voluntary presents along with the
bride at the time of marriage with a belief that she owns it and it provides her with financial
independence so that she doesn’t have to depend on husband for her needs.1

When The British introduced the Permanent Settlement of Bengal, 1793, it enabled private
land ownership which was unknown to the then Indian society. This move has affected the
status of women because the British had prohibited women from owning any kind of
property. It created a situation where all the offerings that were received during the marriage
would be owned by the husband. That created greed in the minds of husband and his family
where they started choosing a bride who can bring more wealth to their house. This is what
led people to see girl child as a burden and boy child as source of income. 2 This rule of
British applied only to women of Hindu religion. This is how the practice got even more
prevalent in the society. This became a norm of Indian marriages and even in modern days, it
is still followed by most of the families.

The issue becomes severe as the family of groom start demanding the bride to bring more
wealth. When she fails to do so, she is constantly harassed by the husband or her in-laws.
This problem is faced by thousands of women in our country. After being constantly abused
and harassed, many women end their life as they don’t find a way to escape. In the present-
day scenario, around 20 cases of dowry deaths get reported in our country every day. 3Despite
the increase in education levels, awareness among people, the trend of giving and taking
hefty amounts of dowry has augmented over time.

The Issue in Kerala

Kerala, known for its long history of art and cultural heritage and most importantly, for its
highest literacy rate in the Indian subcontinent is now recognized by world bank blog that it

1
Soumi Chatterjee, Concept and Evolution of Dowry, 7 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL
SCIENCE INVENTION (IJHSSI) 85, 85-86 (2018),
http://www.ijhssi.org/papers/vol7(1)/Version-2/M0701028590.pdf.
2
Gurudev, The origin of Dowry system in India, GURUDEV’S BLOG, (May. 22, 2012),
https://www.hitxp.com/articles/society/origin-dowry-system-bride-woman-india-british/.
3
Death by Dowry’ claim by bereaved family in India, THE GUARDIAN (Jul. 18, 2018),
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/jul/18/death-by-dowry-claim-by-bereaved-family-in-
india?mc_cid=b2a1d0f11a.

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has highest average dowry in the recent years. Between 2016 and 2021, there are 66 cases of
reported dowry deaths and 15,143 cases of dowry harassment in Kerala. 4 It is to be noted that
there are many cases that go unreported. In the month of July, within a span of 2 days, three
women from Kerala under the age of 25 ended their life due to dowry harassment. The crime
statistics over dowry reveal the position of women in households.

It is shocking that nearly 3 incidents happened within a span of a week. Chief Minister of
Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan immediately called for ‘say no-to-dowry’ awareness campaigns,
24x7 helplines and a panel of dowry officers are also set up to reduce this pattern. 5 The
existing measures did not succeed in curbing the menace and the effectiveness of the new
measures is highly debated.

METHODOLOGY

This study aims to explain how different editorials took a stance on why Kerala despite being
the state with remarkable social and human development is still reporting such high number
of dowry deaths. The editorials are taken from the newspapers Telegraph India, The Indian
Express and Manorama. The author will start by analyzing these editorials and try to
understand the unnoticed contrast between the statistics and reality of social, economic and
political status of women in the god’s own country. This study also brings to light the causes
of this social evil which are not discussed in the editorials. The solutions mentioned in the
editorials are to be examined and new ones are to be analyzed.

4
Kerala has highest dowry inflation in country, says world bank blog, THE TIMES OF INDIA (Jul. 3,2021, 11:41
AM), https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/kerala-has-highest-dowry-inflation-in-country-says-world-
bank-blog/articleshow/84077201.cms.
5
To curb menace, Kerala appoints dowry prohibition officers, THE FEDERAL (Jul. 17, 2021),
https://thefederal.com/states/south/kerala/to-curb-dowry-menace-kerala-govt-appoints-dowry-prohibition-
officers/.

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 ANALYSIS OF EDITORIALS

The editorial “Just Fight: Kerala Dowry Deaths”6 published by ‘The Telegraph’ states that
high literacy doesn’t automatically bring gender equality in the society. Kerala is a state with
96.2% literacy with 95.2% of women being educated. The editorial reminds us of the social
and human development indices in which Kerala scores exceptionally and goes on to
question if these numbers represent the real conditions of women. The author of this paper
analyses that proper education is not the ultimate solution of this because the practice of
dowry depends on many other factors such as deep-rooted inherited biases, social
stratification of the society, women’s role in the family and traditional institutions of
marriage.

This editorial favors the decisions of the state by asking the other states to follow the same
but it is silent on the fact that despite the mandate of Dowry prohibition law, surprisingly, the
state doesn’t have dowry prohibition officers to look into these issues. It only focused on the
measures taken now. After reporting 3 cases in a single week, the state government
announced a program to create awareness on gender justice by introducing fast track courts
exclusively for crimes against women and also by appointing a nodal officer. Apart from this,
it also decided to do away with the text in schoolbooks which voice discriminatory ideology
about women. It has to be noted that mere removal of texts from books is not a promissory
step, focus should also be paid on including lessons that teach human values, morals and
gender equality from the school level.

The second editorial is “Dowry Black Spot”,7 published in the newspaper, ‘The Indian
Express’, partially agrees with the views of the previous editorial and asks us to question
ourselves- Do these executive interventions put an end to the entire dowry system? To
support this argument, it highlights the fallibilities in the state’s development narrative. The
reality is opposed to the common belief that education is the ultimate panacea for every social
issue, the high literacy rate of women couldn’t help them in having a say in political and
economic spheres.

6
Just fight: Kerala Dowry Deaths, TELEGRAPH INDIA (Jun. 29,2021),
https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/just-fight-kerala-dowry-deaths/cid/1820450.
7
Dowry Black Spot, THE INDIAN EXPRESS (Jun. 28, 2021),
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/kerala-honor-killing-dowry-deaths-in-india-7378634/.

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The editorial points out that the economic liberalization in the 1990s has increased the spread
of dowry even more than before with the increase in consumption. To substantiate this claim,
the author finds out there are also studies that suggest that increasing levels of education of
groom results in increase of dowry, whereas, the education levels of bride is mostly
unrelated. This happens as a man with higher qualification earns more and the dowry that
bride’s parents are willing to pay is higher. Although prospects of educated women attract
few families to accept her for the advantages she brings into the family, it is not the same in
every case. The author finds that the issue in Kerala is that higher education levels are
providing people with higher prospects and families are climbing up socio-economically. So,
parents of bride with hopes to find their daughter a ‘better’ husband are willing to pay hefty
sums of dowry. They are trapped into this custom and are prone to exploitation.

The author supports this editorial’s claim that there exists reluctance among families when
they have to file cases on such issues. The reasons for this are ignored in the editorial. The
incidents do not get reported because the families opt to negotiate a resolution outside the
courts. Most of the times, women are sent back to their marital homes without letting them to
take the issue to police for reasons pertaining to social stigma and patriarchal structure of
society.8 Depriving women of support prevents them from seeking legal remedies. There are
also incidents where police turn women away, asking them to solve their personal issues on
their own. In such circumstances, women don’t have any safe place to go. They suffer silently
and a few end their life succumbing to pressure. This has to change for a woman to fearlessly
opt for legal remedies.

“Li maranannal ormipikyunadh” (Reminiscent of these deaths), published in Manorama, a

prominent newspaper in Kerala also aligns with the previous editorial. 9 It talks about the sad
state of affairs around this regressive practice. It is strange how a place known for its
matriarchal traditions is now not a safe haven for women. The gist of the editorial reveals that
the practice of dowry is so deep rooted that it is seen as normal and unchangeable. This
editorial also questions people if they still don’t understand the severity of the issue.

The Telegraph India in their “Just Fight” editorial also suggested that the measures taken by
the Kerala government have to be followed by other states and asked them to pay similar

8
Geetika Mantri & Theja Ram, Violence against Women, THE NEWS MINUTE (Nov. 26, 2019, 13:21 PM),
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/when-victims-dowry-harassment-are-forced-return-their-abusive-
marital-homes-112954.
9
ഈ മരണങ്ങൾ ഓർമിപ്പിക്കുന്നത്, MANORAMA (Jun.23, 2021, 12:49 AM),
https://www.manoramaonline.com/news/editorial/2021/06/22/dowry-young-woman-suicide.html.

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attention on dowry related issues. One has to be aware that the measures have to be
implemented, mere introduction will not solve the issue. The “Dowry Black spot” editorial
rightly reminds us that consciousness should be created from within the institutions of family.
Here comes the realization that education is taught at schools but values that are learnt at
home shapes the outlook of a person. Manorama in their editorial also emphasized on the
same.

All three editorials that the author chose emphasized on the fact that education couldn’t stop
these horrors. Whereas these editorials do not clearly explain why the issue is arising at the
first place or what can be the right approach to change this. The problem is that women are
seen as the inferior partners in the matrimony and the wealth they bring as compensation for
that. In fact, many families consciously follow this tradition as they are concerned of being
condemned by the society. Parents of the bride want to make sure their daughter gets respect
in her in-law’s house and it is believed in our society that “more dowry implies more
respect”. The same mindset is passed on to the next generations. The fear or concern of
bride’s family is what the family of groom takes advantage of. There are families who claim
dowry as a ‘right’ and when deprived of it, they reject marriage or even worse abuse,
abandon or kill the bride after marriage.10

The editorials also point out that dowry causes domestic violence. But the editorials are silent
on the fact that dowry also leads to many more social evils like female infanticide, not
allowing women to study, male guardianship and child marriages. When a couple gives birth
to a girl child, the family sees the baby as a liability. Few kill the baby even before she comes
into the world to get rid of the burden. There are families who set aside money for their
daughter’s marriage by not providing her with basic or higher education. They are instances
where parents left their daughter to fate when they are forced by her husband’s family to pay
more dowry.

Dowry system can also be attributed as one of the causes of child marriage. When the girl is
young, usually dowry demanded remains less, so girls of relatively poor backgrounds are
married off at a young age. 11 This also gives male counterpart in the marital partnership a

10
Puja Mondal, Dowry System in India, YOUR ARTICLE LIBRARY,
https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/society/dowry/dowry-system-in-india-problems-social-dimensions-and-
other-details/35175.
11
Sian Ellis, Marrying Too Young, YOUTH POLICY (Sep. 6,2013),
https://www.youthpolicy.org/blog/development/child-marriage-in-india-existing-prevention-measures-and-
ways-forward/.

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dominant position, widening the existing gender gaps even more. All of these issues are
ignored by the newspapers. They completely focused on dowry harassment and deaths but
they couldn’t capture the bigger harm that this practice of dowry is causing.

CONCLUSION

Today, the menace of dowry is not only extant in Kerala but it is an issue of women from
houses of every caste, creed, region and religion in our country. The change in society is not
something that happens with mere drafting of new laws or setting up more committees, it
begins when the way in which society perceives their daughters change. The change is
realized when society begins to view women as active participants and contributors in the
nation building. The editorials also gave emphasis on this fact. The stigma around taking
these issues to police should be reduced so that legal remedies can be sought easily. Focus
should also be paid on non-legislative measures such as creating awareness among people
from every front that dowry is not only illegal but also an unethical practice.

The education must include in it the moral values, institutions of gender empowerment and
importance of being independent. The implementation of a slew of measures just after some
unexpected incident take place and then not paying attention to issue after a while is not how
things improve. Continuous follow up by educating about such social evils, understanding the
position of women and supporting equality is the long-term solution to end the dowry system,
both in Kerala and in the country.

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