{"id":61827,"date":"2025-12-16T18:29:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T12:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=61827"},"modified":"2025-12-16T18:31:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T13:01:34","slug":"dowry-eradication-sc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/16-12-2025\/dowry-eradication-sc","title":{"rendered":"Dowry Eradication Urgent Constitutional, Social Necessity: SC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS1\/ Social Issue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Supreme Court issued systemic directions to strengthen enforcement of <strong>anti-dowry laws.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>SC observed that dowry is a deep-rooted social evil cutting across communities and requires institutional accountability, not merely penal provisions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>SC Directions&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Judicial Monitoring:<\/strong> High Courts must monitor pending cases under<strong> IPC Sections 304-B (dowry death) and 498-A (cruelty)<\/strong> for expeditious disposal, with the judgment circulated for compliance review.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Administrative Enforcement: <\/strong>States must appoint and resource <strong>Dowry Prohibition Officers (DPOs) under Section 9 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961<\/strong>, disseminating their contact details widely.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Capacity Building &amp; Sensitisation<\/strong>: Police and judicial officers require periodic training on case sensitivity, distinguishing genuine claims from frivolous ones, while district administrations and Legal Services Authorities run grassroots awareness campaigns.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Dowry Cases In India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>NCRB&#8217;s Crime in India 2023 report confirms a 14% rise in cases under the <strong>Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961<\/strong>, reaching 15,489 from 13,479 in 2022, alongside 6,156 dowry deaths nationwide.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Uttar Pradesh topped<\/strong> with 7,151 cases and 2,122 deaths, followed by <strong>Bihar, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Of 83,000+ pending dowry-related cases, conviction rates hovered at 11-17%, with 833 murders explicitly motivated by dowry; under-reporting persists due to social stigma and family pressures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"cfc9cb\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"559\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-98-1024x559.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-61828\" style=\"--dominant-color: #cfc9cb; aspect-ratio:1.8318737860769414;width:565px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-98-1024x559.png 1024w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-98-300x164.png 300w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-98-768x419.png 768w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-98-1536x838.png 1536w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-98.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Related Laws and Constitutional Basis<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dowry is <strong>prohibited under the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961<\/strong>, which criminalises the giving, taking and demanding of dowry and provides for the appointment of Dowry Prohibition Officers.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The current legal law reinforces this framework through <strong>Section 498-A (Sections 85 and 86 of BNS)<\/strong>, addressing cruelty against married women, and <strong>Section 304-B (Section 80 of BNS)<\/strong>, which deals with dowry deaths occurring within seven years of marriage.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Constitutionally, the fight against dowry draws legitimacy from <strong>Articles 14 and 15<\/strong>, which guarantee equality and prohibit discrimination, Article 21, which ensures the right to life with dignity, and Article 51A(e), which places a fundamental duty on citizens to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: BS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In News<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Supreme Court issued systemic directions to strengthen enforcement of anti-dowry laws.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">SC observed that dowry is a deep-rooted social evil cutting across communities and requires institutional accountability, not merely penal provisions.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>SC Directions\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Judicial Monitoring: High Courts must monitor pending cases under IPC Sections 304-B (dowry death) and 498-A (cruelty) for expeditious disposal, with the judgment circulated for compliance review.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Administrative Enforcement: States must appoint and resource Dowry Prohibition Officers (DPOs) under Section 9 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, disseminating their contact details widely.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Capacity Building &#038; Sensitisation: Police and judicial officers require periodic training on case sensitivity, distinguishing genuine claims from frivolous ones, while district administrations and Legal Services Authorities run grassroots awareness campaigns.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/16-12-2025\/dowry-eradication-sc\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61827"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61831,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61827\/revisions\/61831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}