Shalu Nigam

  Dowry is a Serious Economic Violence: Rethinking Dowry Law in India  Hardcover – 13 May 2023 This book is about the prevailing practices of dowry, its mechanisms, and the dowry laws as they exist in India. It argues that the practice of dowry is evolving in the commercialized neoliberal while the law has failed to keep pace with the socio-economic changes. Dowry, as it is practiced today, involves gruesome forms of economic violence, including extortion, blackmail, and exploitation of women and their families. The current legal framework ignores this  triad of oppression  consisting of compulsive, arbitrary  dowry demands ,  coercion , and dowry-related  violence,  and therefore, it suggests rethinking the socio-legal discourse surrounding dowry in India.

  Dowry involves a triad of oppression “Dahej naari jaati ka apmaan hai” "Dowry is an insult to females.” (A slogan raised against the immoral practice of dowry in post-independent India) Cameron (2014) categorised the financially abusive partners into three categories: controllers, exploiters, and schemers. According to this study, the controllers use a peculiar combination of abusive behaviour to exert control, the exploiters use various forms of abuse to exploit partners for their own financial needs, and the schemers systematically strategize to steal the women’s money. The despicable goal of the schemers is to shamelessly exploit the relationship and to wrongfully take women’s assets. Using this critical approach to analyse the cases relating to dowry abuse depicts that those who demand dowry are schemers who systematically and brazenly strategize to control not only the women’s assets but also the money that belongs to her natal family. As a controller, the abuser threatens

  Excerpt from my book  Dowry is a Serious Economic Violence: Rethinking Dowry Law in India   (2023) Amazon Centuries ago, when Karl Marx wrote exhaustively about the callous exploitation of workers by the capitalist class, he may not have imagined how in South Asia, women as brides  would be treated as commodities, pitilessly exploited, and violently murdered in their own  homes by their abusive husbands for extorting wealth. As the ruthless oppression of the toiling masses could not be prevented by laws or policies, the merciless torture and murder of women could not be regulated despite establishing a legal mechanism in place. Over the decades, predatory capitalism has irrevocably acquired an altered form, and the free-market approach has devised a new mechanism of manipulation (Faber D, 2018). Similarly, the viciousness of the neoliberal forces, clubbed with patriarchy, feudalism, conservatism, rampant materialism, and excessive consumption propelled by extensive consumerism, is ag

  दहेज प्रथा अभी भी क्यों कायम है जब कानून द्वारा इसे प्रतिबंधित कर दिया गया? 30 Dec 2022 शिंदे ने तब समाज में व्याप्त गहरी असमानताओं पर सवाल उठाए। परिवारों और समाजों के भीतर संरचनात्मक भेदभाव और असमानताओं से संबंधित ये प्रश्न आज के संदर्भ में अभी भी मान्य हैं और इन पर चर्चा, बहस और उत्तर की आवश्यकता है।  हर दिन मरने से एक बार मरना बेहतर है ... हम मरना नहीं चाहते हैं लेकिन मौत उनके दुर्व्यवहार से बेहतर है"। "हमारी मौत का कारण हमारे ससुराल वाले हैं"।  कमलेश, ममता और मीना का अपने एक रिश्तेदार को एक व्हाट्सएप संदेश (तीन बहनें जिन्होंने जून 2022 में साथ आत्महत्या कर ली थी)  जून 2022 में, तीन बहनें , कमलेश, ममता (दोनों गर्भवती थीं) और मीना, चार साल के बच्चे और एक 22 दिन के शिशु के साथ एक कुएं में मृत पाई गईं। घटना जयपुर के बाहरी इलाके में एक गांव की है। बहनों ने शायद पूरी तरह असहाय अवस्था में आत्महत्या कर ली। उन्होंने अपने वैवाहिक परिवार को, जिसने मोटी रकम की मांग की, दोषी ठहराते हुए यह संदेश छोड़ा। बहनों ने तीन भाइयों के साथ एक ही घर में शादी की। उनके पिता सरदार मीणा ने बताय