Scourge of Dowry: Lack of inheritance law worsens it for Hindu brides

Despite the Dowry Prohibition Act-2018 being in force, the demands for dowries are still prevalent in many communities, leaving newlywed women and their families reeling under undue financial pressure.

Due to the absence of inheritance laws, Hindu women are more affected as their dowries are openly negotiated before marriage.

According to locals in the country's north, Hindu brides' families have to provide Tk 5 to 50 lakh as dowry to the grooms' families.

Dowry can be given in any form, including cash, jewelry, vehicles, electronics, furniture or reception expenses and hotel fees.

Meanwhile, many brides' parents do not consider it a crime, even if they have to resort to selling land or taking loans from banks or relatives.

A common trend among dowry seekers is that the more educated they are, the greater the sum they demand.

Manoranjan Karmaker from Dinajpur, in 2020, arranged his post-graduate niece's marriage to a first-class government officer, who demanded Tk 8 lakh cash and gold worth Tk 4 lakh, as part of dowry.

"We spent a total of Tk 18 lakh. We sold our land worth Tk 15 lakh and also had to arrange Tk 50,000 for the groom's family to stay at a hotel during the wedding."

A college peon in Thakurgaon, Nitai Chandra Dhar was preparing to marry off his schoolteacher daughter.

Despite earing Tk 15,000 a month, he agreed to pay Tk 15 lakh for his daughter's wedding. He already used up a portion of his savings and planned to sell around seven kathas of land. He also took a loan from an NGO to cover the remaining expenses.

"It won't be possible to repay the loan with this salary. My only hope is my retirement savings."

Asked why he agreed to taking such a risk, he said, "The groom has a government job."

Satish Chandra Barman, a senior assistant teacher at Madhupur Kakoli High School and a known matchmaker in Thakurgaon, said grooms who are in administrative positions make high demands for dowries.

"Parents are willing to pay even up to Tk 30 lakh to marry their daughters off to government job-holders. For instance, my neighbour spent Tk 32 lakhs to get their daughter, a nursing student, married to a sub-inspector.

"In another case, an SI also demanded Tk 1 crore but the bride's family was able to pay Tk 60 lakh. Another time, a government official demanded Tk 20 lakh to marry a degree-holder girl. They had to settle for Tk 18 lakh after negotiation."

Kamrul Islam Rubayet, a lecturer at Thakurgaon's Abdur Rashid Degree College, said Hindu families in the region often prioritise administrative job-holders to marry off their daughters to for the sake of "security".

Mahbubur Rahman, the district's deputy commissioner, said, "At all our meetings, we take measures to create awareness and curb incidents of demanding dowry. However, there may still be many such cases occurring that I'm not aware of."

According to Pulok Ghatak, general secretary of Hindu Law Reform Parishad, the concept of dowry remains largely prevalent in almost all Hindu marriages and is recognised under the Hindu law.

"However, the 2018 law criminalises it, creating contradiction."

He added, "In the Hindu law, the term 'Joutuk Streedhon' is mentioned as women's property, but in reality, women don't have any authority over it.

Pulok said, "Unfortunately, as per the archaic Hindu law, the woman does not possess autonomy; instead, she is regarded as her husband's possession.

"After the former law related to 'streedhon' was repealed, no other provision exists for a woman to inherit property from her parents. We have a few initiatives aimed to establish inheritance rights for Hindu women as a means to address their property rights."

Fauzia Moslem, president of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, said, "Religious traditions historically positioned Hindu women as subordinates, leading to the absence of rights to divorce and inheritance, while ensuring the prevalence of the dowry system.

"To address these disparities, we are calling for the implementation of a uniform family law for all religions."

(Our Thakurgaon correspondent contributed to this report.)