Dowry Death

Name given to a particular type of
violent crime against women. According
to the much-publicized pattern, it is
the killing of a new bride by her in-laws,
either for failing to bring enough
dowry with her into the marriage,
or when her parents could not deliver
the dowry that had been promised.
In many cases these women were killed
by being doused with kerosene and
lit, since this could be passed off as
an accidental death suffered while
cooking. These murders received great
publicity in India and abroad in
the mid-1980s, in part because of
their calculated and horrific nature.
The aforementioned pattern simplifies
the issues, however, by reducing it to
a question of money. It is true that
there have been many cases in which
women have been killed solely for
financial reasons—that is, for not
bringing enough dowry. Yet many of the
victims of these so-called dowry deaths
had been married for years, and their
deaths are better explained as the
result of an escalating pattern of
203
Dowry Death
domestic violence, rather than a
calculated extortion and murder.