Dowry deaths have been rising in affluent families in Mumbai for the last five years, says experts handling such cases.
They blame modern life style for the rise in such cases. Advocate Purnima Bhatia points out, “A rich man by birth would never ask for dowry. Today, lots of jobs are available, which offer high-income and luxurious lifestyle. But at the same time, the urge to become richer is also rising.”
Bhatia claimed that 90 per cent of the dowry cases are filed out of frustration.
She said, “Most of the women file cases because their husbands ignore them or they have extra-marital affairs.”
Kavita Sharma, a counsellor for dowry victims, agrees with Bhatia.
She said, “The modern lifestyle is the main culprit of dowry deaths. People want elegant homes and expensive gadgets. They are the status symbols. But to have all such status symbols in a city like Mumbai is very difficult even for the neo-rich.”
Interestingly, a survey done by Centre For Social Research, a Mumbai-based NGO, shows that the conviction rate in dowry deaths is only two per cent. in April 2006, Justice Dileep Bhosale of the Bombay High Court ruled that a trial court has every right to frame the accused of dowry death case for murder.
He gave police more flexibility in dealing with dowry deaths, which are often difficult to prove as murder cases.
New Delhi-based organisation Save Family Foundation (promoting family & marital harmony) whose volunteers actively work in all the major cities for justice to dowry victims says: “The graph of dowry related case is on the rise and all the cases we have being encountered majority are from the metro cities in the country,” president of the foundation Ashish Mukhi told DNA.
But the foundation is disappointed with the conviction rate in the dowry related cases. “Hardly two per cent of the dowry related cases gets convicted,” Mukhi said.
While the foundation focuses on that there are many dowry related cases that are framework and because of which it is affecting the court to take a firm steps in taking decision without getting enough evidence to a dowry cases filed with them.
