New Delhi, Aug 26 (PTI) The spectre of dowry has returned to the national centrestage with the horrific death of 26-year-old Nikki Bhati, highlighting once again the age-old trap of patriarchal control, societal norms and weak law enforcement that millions of women are caught in.

Every day, somewhere in the country, 20 women die because their families have been unable to satisfy dowry demands, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Nikki Bhati was one of them, a statistic and so much more than that.

Nikki was allegedly set ablaze in Greater Noida’s Sirsa village on August 21, purported videos of her assault by her husband and then of her in flames shaking the collective conscience. Her family - which got Nikki and her sister married to two brothers - said they gifted her in-laws a Scorpio, a motorcycle and gold during the wedding in 2016. But there was no satiating the demand and they were later presented with a fresh demand of Rs 36 lakh and a luxury car.

"I recently attended a wedding in Noida and it was horrifying. I saw luxury cars -- Fortuners, Mercedes -- being openly gifted as dowry. Politicians were there, celebrating. I couldn’t tolerate witnessing such glorification of dowry and left,” women’s rights activist Yogita Bhayana told PTI.

"Even in Nikki's case, I was on a channel where her father was also a panellist. Despite what they’re facing now, during the debate he repeatedly emphasised that he had given a top-model SUV to his son-in-law. This only shows how normalised dowry is, even among those grieving," she said.

That Nikki, who ran a beauty salon with her sister and had a presence on social media, reached out to her family for help, a panchayat had to sit to deliberate the issue more than once and she was still sent back only underscores how interwoven the custom of dowry is in societal fabric.

Dowry not only persists but remains rampant in many parts of India, where, instead of being condemned, it is often glorified by both the groom’s and bride’s families, Bhayana pointed out.

And horrifying though her death is, Nikki, who got married when she was just 17, is not the only one.

Dowry, outlawed in India since 1961, continues to be the grim societal reality where the bride's family is expected to gift cash, clothes and jewellery to the groom's family. And if they don’t, harassment, torture and death, often by burning, is the grim escalating trajectory for many women.

The investigation into Nikki’s death throws up new evidence each day, indicating a possible shift from the initial findings that she was set on fire by her husband Vipin and his family. All the accused -- husband Vipin Bhati, mother-in-law Daya, father-in-law Satveer Bhati, brother-in-law Rohit Bhati - are under arrest.

Was she killed or did she kill herself? It matters little. The fact is that she was one more victim of dowry and relentless harassment that lasted nine years, pushing her to a gruesome, untimely death.

A day after Nikki's death in a village on the outskirts of India’s national capital, Sanju Bishnoi, a school teacher, allegedly set herself and her daughter on fire in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, so tormented by dowry demands that she sat her three-year-old down on her lap, poured inflammable liquid over them and lit up.

The child died instantly while Sanju succumbed to her injuries the following day during treatment.

"Despite women now holding high-paying jobs, they are still treated as dependents, with dowry fulfilling a need to satisfy male ego. When this control feels threatened, it can escalate to abuse and even violence, often carried out with little regard for consequences," explained Dr Shweta Sharma, founder of Mansa Global Foundation for Mental Health.

Digging deeper, the psychologist explained that dowry has evolved into a tool for "reinforcing patriarchal control" and a symbol of the girl being a liability with her parents expected to fulfill the so called obligation.

A study by Jeffrey Weaver of University of Southern California and Gaurav Chiplunkar of University of Virginia that examined more than 74,000 marriages in India between 1930 and 1999 found that 90 per cent involved dowry. Besides, payments between 1950 and 1999 amounted to a staggering quarter of a trillion dollars.

Bhayana added that male entitlement coupled with the conditioning that asks women to “endure and stay silent” leads to the practice being perpetuated.

She stressed that the victims’ parents should not be completely absolved of blame "We often portray parents of victims solely as victims themselves, but sometimes, they also enable these situations. Nikki, too, must have expressed distress multiple times. Still, the parents sent her back -- fearing society's judgment, choosing image over her safety. And we all know this wasn’t the first time she was beaten... Her death wasn’t an isolated crime. It was systemic," she added.

Bhayana called for social change, strict enforcement of laws and meaningful awareness campaigns rather than self-glorifying government posters.

Dowry and the expectation of it is not confined to any one bracket. It cuts across castes and classes, not just pan India but all pervasive.

The stories are endless, some which make big news, others that barely make it to the papers and those that are never reported.

In Khargone, Madhya Pradesh, a 23-year-old married six months ago was reportedly hospitalised with burn injuries. She alleged that her husband branded her with a heated knife over dowry demands. Police has registered a case.

And the question is - will this woman, whose case made it to a few paras in a newspaper, ever get justice.

Addressing the “low conviction rate” in dowry cases, lawyer Seema Kushwaha said dowry demands have evolved over time, with the groom's families often claiming that the items given were mere “gifts, not demands" and using this as a legal defense to dismiss allegations.

"This common tactic significantly weakens the woman's case in court," said the Supreme Court lawyer, adding that the spread of narratives emphasizing the few cases of women misusing Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code -- the stringent anti-dowry law -- undermines the cases of the larger group of genuine victims.

Section 498A was introduced in 1983 after a spate of dowry deaths in Delhi and elsewhere in the country.

Kushwaha emphasised the urgent need to nip the problem in the bud, asking why acts like "a husband slapping his wife or in-laws blaming her family for trivial matters soon after marriage" often do not lead to an FIR.

"Courts often interpret cruelty based on societal norms rather than strictly following codified law. They require medical reports or visible bruises to confirm cruelty, which unfairly disadvantages victims of mental and emotional abuse that leaves no physical marks," she said.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 35,493 brides were killed in India between 2017 and 2022 -- averaging nearly 20 deaths a day -- over dowry demands, sometimes occurring even years after the wedding. PTI MG MIN MIN MIN