Dowry Law

A young couple setting off on the Indian dream,

a successful, prosperous life together.

It's the wedding season in India,

thousands of young people are getting married.

This lavish marriage in a five-star hotel

has cost thousands of pounds.

Weddings in today's India

are increasingly about conspicuous consumption,

spend it, flaunt it.

Across town, a Muslim ceremony with the dowry out on show.

Gifts and cash from the bride's father.

Muslims never used to give dowries.

We have organized a motorbike,

it's a latest brand of the LML Freedom that is.

We bought a cupboard and a LG fridge,

plus you can say 21-inch a flat-front TV

with a Whirlpool washing machine, suitcases,

bangles out here.

And the clothing all the embroidered ones

for the boys as well girls and for the relatives as well.

And a good bed over here with the jewelleries,

and good gifts and everything, whatever is possible.

The moment his daughter was born,

the bride's father started saving for this day.

No expense has been spared, no detail overlooked.

The dowry will have set his family back

a small fortune.

And for the groom's family, it's bonanza time,

gifts all around.

The market's just driving dowry, it's--

You know, it's like a new engine to this whole thing of dowry.

And it's being driven by the market,

it's being driven by consumerism,

it's being driven by the feeling that, "Okay, we want this

and this is an easy way to get it."

[people chanting in foreign language]

Dowry demands for money, ultimatums and threats

can keep going long after the wedding is over,

with constant pressure on young brides

and their families.

[people chanting in foreign language]

In Delhi, a special police unit has been set up

to help young married women who feel harassed.

This is the way women are treated?

It's busier than ever.

Day after day,

brides come with their parents complaining about demands,

about beatings and mental torture.

In male-dominated Indian society,

women here seem to be fighting back.

Sir, go to hell!

Get out of here! Behave yourself.

But they're up against generations

of discrimination.

The dowry was outlawed 40 years ago,

but with the booming economy it's now back with a vengeance.

Behind almost every case are rows about dowry.

The officer in charge is superintendent Vimla Mehra.

One of the main problems is, of course, dowry.

And I don't know why it happens,

because it seems that more and more women come to us

that, "My husband is asking for a scooter or a motor vehicle

or some jewellery or some money

so that he could start his business."

Perhaps, it's one of the easiest way to get money.

A local journalist, Smita Chaudhary,

has been watching dowry in India surging back.

Another case has just come in.

This woman from Rajasthan has brought her family

to the police station.

She claims one of her daughters was killed

by her son-in-law's family.

Anju was burned to death in the kitchen.

Her mother wants the dowry back.

Three children?

Yes, she had three more sons and the eldest of them

has gone mad after that incident.

Her other daughter is married into the same family

and the mother claims

she's now being harassed for dowry as well.

She says I want justice and I want all the money

which I've given for dowry.

How much money did she give?

She gave Rs. 250,000 worth of stuff to two sisters.

That's a huge sum for this family, over £3,000.

It's dowry again, and again, and again.

What I'm not sure about is why she brought this case up now,

her daughter died two years ago.

Actually, she's--

Now she feels that there's no hope for this girl,

because they're asking for the dowry once again.

So there's no hope Hmm. to settle this child.

And she'd have to pay out more money

if she has to send her back.

She's been asked for yet more dowry

on top of what she's already paid? Yes.

Because they're saying that has been consumed

with the first daughter's marriage

and so she should pay again.

The in-laws' family have all turned up

and now the two husbands, who are brothers,

decide to wade into the argument.

One says they were never legally married,

because the girls were too young.

The row is all about money.

Everyone seems far more worried about the cash

than the dead girl.

In the middle of the arguing and the abuse,

a police officer is trying to work out

who is telling the truth.

Everyone has a different point of view

and anyone within shouting range gets an earful.

And they've also got is one of the brothers

claiming to have had no relationship whatsoever

with this woman.

Where the truth lies, I don't know yet.

Right. They were married as children.

So the marriage is not valid... And that's a-- that's a Rajasthani custom?

Yeah. Yes.

Alright. But that's not-- that's not valid legally.

So there's one guy who saying,

"There is no marriage, so what are we talking about?"

So you see we have a law, and we have a caste system,

and we have a Panchayat, and we have families.

And you have dowry and it all makes a mess.

And everyone...

I mean you know, it is funny,

but at the same time it's you know--

a woman has died in this.

And they're saying she has burnt herself

while boiling milk.

Which is possible, but you know, only the women are boiling milk

and then they are burning themselves off like--

And always the young ones.

The mothers-in-law do not boiling milk and dying.

Tihar Jail in Delhi is the largest prison in Asia.

It's visiting day,

but these women and their children

are on the wrong side of the bars.

All are in prison for dowry crime,

in many cases jailed for setting their daughters-in-law on fire.

Anjel is the resident social worker in Tihar.

This block is exclusively for mothers-in-law,

more than a hundred of them.

The numbers are growing all the time.

Dowry-related death. That's right.

So she's been convicted of killing-- Yeah.

Her daughter-in-law, yeah.

What's she been accused of?

The daughter-in-law died.

How did-- how did she die?

The daughter-in-la gave the dying declaration

that the in-laws held her hands, daughter--

sister-in-law put fire to her

and the husband poured kerosene over her.

But the husband is out,

the rest of the family is inside the jail.

Dowry crime was spiraling out of control.

And the government passed laws,

so that anyone even remotely connected

to the death of a wife can be thrown in jail.

If a bride dies

in the first seven years of marriage,

her family can file a charge alleging dowry crime.

All the in-laws can be imprisoned.

I came across mothers, sisters, sons, daughters, aunts,

even nieces and nephews, all behind bars in Tihar.

This is--

Some are growing up in jail

simply because their families are here.

Who's this?

This is the son of one of the women

who's in the-- who's in the-- this cell?

Yeah.

Her sister-in-law died,

so this is one of the sisters-in-law, her son.

Yeah.

Raja, Raja, Raja.

This old woman and her daughter have done two years

of a 20-year sentence for murder.

The son wasn't charged.

The women claim they weren't there

when the daughter-in-law died.

The daughter-in-law bolted the door from inside

and put herself on fire.

How is she responsible for her daughter-in-law's death?

Basically, the boy was very jealous

and they were fighting very badly.

And the sister-in-law feels that this was a tension

between husband and wife and they got involved in it.

She feels very lonely and abandoned also,

because the son doesn't come to meet her either.