NCJ Number
180887
Journal
International Journal of the Sociology of Law Volume: 27 Issue: 3 Dated: September 1999 Pages: 287-316
Date Published
1999
Length
30 pages
Annotation
Based on a qualitative analysis of a purposive sample of important High Court and Supreme Court cases, this paper argues that judgments in dowry death cases are illustrative of the cultural context in which law operates to maintain family and gender ideology in India.
Abstract
In the 1970's India's newspapers reported a rash of deaths due to burning, in which young wives were depicted as careless victims of "kitchen accidents." Feminist organizations that investigated some of these deaths began to define them as murders and forced suicides that resulted from domestic violence and harassment for dowry payments. Anti-dowry activists have claimed that the law continues to evade demands for justice by victims. This article begins with a brief review of relevant critical legal studies and relates them to current research in the Indian context. The author focuses on the concept of "familial ideology" (Kapur and Cossman, 1996) and discusses examples of judicial rhetoric in dowry death cases as illustrative of such ideology in the Indian context. Although there has been a national focus on the problem of domestic violence and justice in dowry deaths, currently there is no law in India that directly addresses domestic violence and whether or not dowry demands are the cause of such violence. Instead, cases of domestic violence are often registered under existing laws on assault, harassment, cruelty, and dowry deaths. Demands for better enforcement of dowry laws have resulted in the creation of special "Dowry-Cells" in police stations in many cities. These special cells have facilitated the increased reporting of dowry-related crimes. On the other hand, cell personnel lack training in dealing with domestic disputes and simultaneously attempt to act as counselors, police officers, and social workers. The law remains elusive in challenging structural and ideological conditions that provoke domestic violence, dowry use, and dowry deaths. 3 notes and 51 references