Practice of Dowry and Domestic Violence

Marriage is an auspicious ceremony which unites two bodies’ two souls. It’s a lifelong bonding of one man and one woman but to the great extent, the major problem is of culture” in our society. Demand of dowry is a major problem in Indian marriages; it is a deep rooted social evil. As we are living in the 21 st century but the truth still persists that the women in our society has been ill-treated. After or before marriage she has bereft of her own identity and looked upon to her family members or on husband for basic necessities. This study defines the relation between domestic violence and dowry demands. Forty cases of dowry related domestic violence were studied here from western UP, India. Most of the women in this study experienced dowry related domestic violence got married in their early age 52.5%, from rural background (55%), have a lower household income (55% cases) and not working (92.5%). Majority of cases reported in the early years of marriage (55%), and they were from lower educational background. The result of this study indicates that Economic empowerment, together with higher education and modified cultural norms may protect the women from such type of social evil.