The New Nation - Internet Edition

Jharna Moni

For parents nothing can be mo more heartbreaking than seeing their young daughter's corpse covered with white sheets. Rozina Akhter's parents had to see such a dreadful scene a few weeks back.

The dead body of their beloved daughter Rozina, 20, was placed on a van at Bishwamvarpur police station, Sunamganj. No, she did not die in any road accident or of any disease. She was killed by her husband for dowry. Rozina was married off with Al Amin from the same upazila barely eight months ago. A few days after the marriage, the greedy husband began pressing Rozina for bringing money from her father, a demand difficult for her dad to meet.

Having failed to get the dowry, Al Amin got ferocious and intensified torture on Rozina. On the fateful day, there was an altercation between them. At one stage, Amin strangulated Rozina to death. Later, he confessed to the police that he killed his wife.

On September 3, 2007, there was a piece of news in different national dailies with a headline "Housewife commits suicide by setting herself on fire".

Shimul Rani Saha from Habiganj district burnt herself to death having failed to endure the inhuman torture by her husband and in-laws. She even did not think about her six-month-old daughter. Her brother filed a case in this connection which is still under trial.

The deaths of Rozina and Shimul are not something unusual in the country. Thousands of women like them are dying due to dowry, a social menace. Not that there is no law to deal with dowry. Law is there with provisions of stringent punishments, but there is a lack of campaign about the enforcement of the law.

A law was enacted in 1980 for preventing dowry. Despite that taking dowry could not be stopped. According to experts, the law should be made more effective and time-befitting by amending a few of its provisions, or else, it will not be possible to get rid of this curse.

There is no accurate statistics as to how many happy families are broken due to dowry. It is not known exactly how many women like Shimul commit suicide. Dowry not only affects women, but also affects the whole society. Many families lose everything to meet the demand for dowries.

On many occasions, marriages cannot take place for dowries. For instance, Dhaka University's Ria (not her real name) had an affair with a man for four years. But, she could not marry the man she loved because his parents would not approve the marriage without dowry.

According to Women Oppression Cell of Women Affairs Department, the number of women-related cases, mostly dowry-related ones, has gone past 2,500 in the current year. But the actual figure is said to be much higher.

Bangladesh Mohila Parishad compiled clippings from 12 national dailies. According to them, in 2006 a total of 274 women were murdered and 122 tortured for dowries. And the number is increasing day by day.

As stated earlier, an anti-dowry law was enacted with provisions for stringent punishments for the offenders. There is another law titled 'Women and Children Oppression Prevention Act, 2000'. Section 11 of this law also deals with dowry-related crimes. It states a person will be awarded death penalty for causing death to a woman for dowry and life imprisonment for attempted murder for causing injuries.

But the effectiveness of the laws is now in question. Many believe that the laws have failed to play any significant role in preventing dowry. "People forget about laws if they are not properly enforced," says Supreme Court lawyer Tobarok Hussain.

Many lawyers, human rights workers and civil society members blame the upper class for keeping the dowry custom alive. They are of the opinion that the upper-class families give generous gifts to brides for maintaining their high status in the society. Giving dowry is like a competition in the upper class, which is affecting the middle and lower-class families.

Echoing them, Bangladesh Women Lawyers Association executive director Salma Ali says, "Following the upper class, middle and lower class-families are leaning towards dowry. Not amendments to the law, rather everyone should be vocal against dowry. And we should not forget about social awareness." Prof Dr Abdul Hakim, former director of Dhaka University's Social Welfare and Research Institute, says there should be extensive publicity of the law. The government, NGOs and media have a vital role to play in this regard. People will have to be made aware about their responsibilities. Preventive programmes should be undertaken at the union levels. Human rights activists, lawyers and social scientists emphasized more on publicity of law and increasing public awareness than amending the law. A recent survey shows that 80 percent men and 90 percent women are not aware of the law. Due to lack of publicity and enforcement, the law has become ineffective and millions of women are being tortured.

While compiling the report, the writer talked to 25 men and women belonging to different professions, and 18 of them have said extensive publicity and enforcement of the law could solve the ever-deteriorating dowry problem.

However stringent the law is, it does not serve the purpose if people do not know about it and respect it. Therefore, mass awareness; publicity and strict enforcement will have to be ensured to get rid of the social menace.