Bride burning

Bride burning is a form of domestic violence practiced in countries located on or around the Indian subcontinent. A category of dowry death, bride-burning occurs when a young woman is murdered by her husband or his family for her family's refusal to pay additional dowry. The wife is typically doused with kerosene, gasoline, or other flammable liquid, and set alight, leading to death by fire.[1][2] Kerosene is often used as the cooking fuel for dangerous small petrol stoves, so it allows the claim that the crime was an accident. It is most common in India and has been a major problem there since at least 1993.[3]

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Not to be confused with Sati (practice).

This crime has been treated as culpable homicide and, if proven, is usually accordingly punished by up to lifelong imprisonment or death.[1] Bride burning has been recognized as an important problem in India,[4] accounting for around 2500 deaths per year in the country.[4] In 1995, Time Magazine reported that dowry deaths in India increased from around 400 a year in the early 1980s to around 5800 a year by the middle of the 1990s.[5] A year later, CNN ran a story saying that every year police receive more than 2500 reports of bride burning.[6] According to Indian National Crime Record Bureau, there were 1948 convictions and 3876 acquittals in dowry death cases in 2008.[7]

History

Dowry deaths

A dowry death is the death of a young woman in South Asian countries, primarily India, who is murdered or driven to suicide by her husband. This results from the husband continually attempting to extract more dowry from the bride or her family. Bride burning is just one form of dowry death. Others include acid throwing and Eve teasing. Because dowry typically depends on class or socioeconomic status, women are often subjected to the dowry pressures of their future husband or his relatives.[2]

Origins of bride burning

There are at least four perspectives on why bride burning came to be and how its existence has prevailed in South Asian nations, as detailed by Avnita Lakhani in her report on bride burning titled "The Elephant in the Room Is Out of Control". These theories describe practices that contributed to the rise of dowry as a whole, thus ultimately contributing to bride burning.

One of the more culturally-founded theories suggests that in a highly patriarchal society such as India, a woman's role is defined from before she is born, which ultimately places her as lesser than men.[8] Because she is seen as a burden and an "extra mouth to feed",[2] her status as an economic liability promotes the idea that men, who are considered physical assets, can treat women as subservient.[2] Once a woman marries, she is bound to her husband and his will because "society mandates obedience to her husband".[2][8]

Another theory claims that consumerism has caused countries like India to become greedy.[9] Because of this, dowry is used as a means to gain a higher socioeconomic status.[8] As status is continually gained, the demand for bridal dowry increases in order to keep moving up the social ladder.[2]

Lakhani also suggests that historically speaking, the dowry system may have been conceived as a way to distinguish Muslim from Hindu culture,[8] creating a further divide within castes. A higher dowry would indicate a higher status and distinction from Islam, thus providing an incentive to demand a larger dowry.[8]

Finally, some scholars argue that the dowry practice came out of British rule and influence in India to distinguish "different forms of marriage" between castes.[2] When the dowry system was established within the higher castes, the British government sought to reinforce it in the lower castes as a means to eradicate their more ritualised marriages.[2] Such forms of union were discredited until only upper-caste marriage systems were recognised.[2]

In South Asia

According to an estimate from 2011, between 4,000 and 25,000 deaths occur from bride burning every year in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.[10]

In India
A Muslim organization Karnataka Forum for Dignity's poster against Dowry system in Bangalore, India
See also: Dowry system in India and Dowry law in India

Dr. Ashley K. Jutla, MD and David Heimbach describe bride burning by saying that "the husband and/or in-laws have determined that the dowry, a gift given from the daughter's parents to the husband, was inadequate and therefore attempt to murder the new bride to make the husband available to remarry or to punish the bride and her family."[11] In India, dowry size is a reflection of wealth. The Indian author Rajesh Talwar has written a play on dowry deaths titled 'The Bride Who Would Not Burn.'[12]

In 1961, the government of India passed the Dowry Prohibition Act, making the dowry demands in wedding arrangements illegal.[13]

In 1986, the Indian Parliament added dowry deaths as a new domestic violence crime. According to the new section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code, where a bride "within 7 years of her marriage is killed and it is shown that soon before her death, she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband, or any relative of her husband, or in connection with any demand for dowry, such death shall be called 'dowry death' and such husband or relative shall be deemed to have caused her death."[13]

The offenders can be sentenced for any period, from a minimum of seven years in prison to a maximum of life.[14] Many cases of dowry-related domestic violence, suicides, and murders have been reported. A 1997 report claimed that at least 5000 women die each year because of dowry deaths and at least a dozen die each day in 'kitchen fires' thought to be intentional.[15] About 30 percent of reported dowry deaths result in convictions in courts.[7]

In Pakistan

In Pakistan, the Progressive Women's Association says that 300 women are burned to death each year by their husband's families and that bride burning incidents are sometimes disguised as accidents, such as an 'exploding stove'.[16] According to the Association, doctors say that victims presenting from these accidents have injuries inconsistent with stove burns.[16] According to an Amnesty International report in 1999, although 1600 bride burning incidents were reported, only 60 were prosecuted and, of those, only two resulted in convictions.[17]

In Pakistan, women including Shahnaz Bukhari have been campaigning for protective legislation against the practice, for established women's shelters and for hospitals with specialised burn wards.[18] Amnesty International has said that pressure from within, as well as from international human rights groups, may be increasing the level of awareness within the Pakistani government.[19] The BBC estimated that roughly 300 Pakistani brides were burnt to death in 1999.[20]

In 1988, a survey showed that 800 women were killed in this manner; in 1989, the number rose to 1100, and in 1990 it stood at 1800 estimated killings. Newspapers in Lahore in a six-month period (1997) reported on average 15 attacks a month.[21] According to an estimate by Human Development in South Asia, on average there are 16 cases of bride burnings a month.[22] Women's eNews reported 4000 women attacked in this manner in Islamabad's surroundings over an eight-year period and that the average age range of victims is between 18 and 35 with an estimated 30 percent being pregnant at the time of death.[23] Shahnaz Bukhari has said of such attacks

Either Pakistan is home to possessed stoves which burn only young housewives, and are particularly fond of genitalia, or looking at the frequency with which these incidences occur there is a grim pattern that these women are victims of deliberate murder.[23]

According to the Progressive Women's Association such attacks are a growing problem and in 1994 on International Women's Day announced that various NGOs would join to raise awareness of the issue.[24]

In other nations

Occasionally, bride burning happens among resettled Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities in other parts of the world, including the United States.

In the United States

Aleyamma Mathew was a registered nurse at a hospital in Carrollton, Texas, who died of burn wounds on 5 April 1992.[25] She and her husband, Mathew Varughese, had immigrated from India two decades before and had three daughters in the United States.[25] The couple had been having marital problems since the late 1980s, which culminated in a fight that led to Aleyamma's death.[25] She was found by her children, doused in gasoline and covered in flames, dying soon after.[25]

Brief articles were run in the Dallas Morning News and The Atlanta-Journal Constitution after the incident, while the Dallas Observer ran a detailed, nine-page article covering Aleyamma's death.[25] The article faced some criticism [by whom?] for its portrayal of non-Western countries as backward or inappropriate: "Battered by her husband, Aleyamma Mathew remained true to her culture. In the end she became its victim."[25]

Controlling bride burning

There are current governmental initiatives to criminalize bride burning and grassroots organizations working to combat the practice, as well as international laws working against human rights violations.[2] Finally, there are many proposed initiatives in place to end bride burning globally.

Governmental efforts

In 1961, India enacted the Dowry Prohibition Act,[26] to halt dowry murders. It was amended in the early 1980s to "rectify several inherent weaknesses and loopholes"[8] in order to make it a criminal offense if the husband or his relatives causes a woman to "die of burns or bodily injury or unnatural circumstances within seven years of the marriage and where there is evidence that she suffered cruelty and harassment in connection with the dowry."[2] Unfortunately, this particular law does not provide a comprehensive definition of dowry, which can change the way it is demanded and delivered. Ultimately, this allowed perpetrators more flexibility in the court of dowry death.[2] The seven-year clause is equally problematic, as it simply allowed husbands to wait until that period ended to burn or otherwise cause the death of their bride.[2]

Another major Indian law, the 1983 "Anti-Cruelty Statute", prohibits cruelty towards a wife and subjects the husband and/or in-laws to fines or imprisonment if they inflict cruelty upon the wife.[2] However, the law is equally ambiguous, which results in inadequate enforcement of bride burning and dowry murders.[2]

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares the following: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood".[27] Article 5 proclaims: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."[27]

Non-governmental efforts

In India, where most cases of bride burning are seen, domestic legislation is typically inadequately enforced. Because of this, grassroots organizations "have taken up the cause to halt bride burning". One example of this is government-funded family counseling center cells, in which the intended goal is to strengthen family ties and reduce legal intervention. However, often such cells only reinforce the stereotype of "women’s sharp tongues" and men's power to "hit and beat".[2] Other similar counseling-style NGOs have been developed in order to resolve such issues with similar consequences.[8]

Potential efforts

Primarily, alternative initiatives resolve around reform of current flawed, failing laws. One proposal calls for the expansion of the protection for women under the international refugee law in order to provide asylum to victims of gender discrimination or gendercide.[28] One way this could be achieved would be by including women in the definition of a "persecuted social group",[2] which would allow their gender to seek international asylum under fear of dowry-related persecution globally.

In April 1984, European Parliament introduced a proposal that would "protect women from persecution on the basis of gender"[2] by reforming international refugee laws.[2] However, the proposal was rejected.

Another solution is to increase economic interest for women by establishing their property rights.[29] Even when married, the bride has no rights over the property belonging to the husband while he is living.[2] In giving women the right to own property, women would not need to marry for economic or legal purposes, thus disregarding the dowry practice.[2]

See also

Further reading
  • Garg, A.S. (1990). Bride burning: crime against women. New Delhi, India: Sandeep Publication, Rohtak: Marketed by the Bright Law House. OCLC 24784662.
  • Umar, Mohd (1998). Bride burning in India: a socio legal study. New Delhi, India: APH Publishing. ISBN 9788170249221.
  • Menski, Werner (1998). South Asians and the dowry problem. Group on Ethnic Minority Studies Series (GEMS). Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books and School of Oriental & African Studies. ISBN 9781858561417.
  • Ravikant, Namratha S. (2000). "Dowry deaths: proposing a standard for implementation of domestic legislation in accordance with human rights obligations". Michigan Journal of Gender, Social Policy and the Law. 6 (2): 449–498.
  • Lakhani, Avnita (2005). "Bride-burning: the "elephant in the room" is out of control". Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal. 5 (2): 249–298. Pdf.
  • Bhave, Sunil (March 2007). "Deterring dowry deaths in India: applying tort law to reverse the economic incentives that fuel the dowry market". Suffolk University Law Review. 40 (2): 291–314. Lexis Nexis. Suffolk University Law Review.
  • Anderson, Siwan (Fall 2007). "The economics of dowry and brideprice". Journal of Economic Perspectives. 21 (4): 151–174. doi:10.1257/jep.21.4.151. S2CID 13722006. Pdf.
  • A bride-burning victim in Nepal says her counselors are helping her heal and look to the future
  • Peck, Michael D. (August 2012). "Epidemiology of burns throughout the World. Part II: Intentional burns in adults". Burns. 38 (5): 630–637. doi:10.1016/j.burns.2011.12.028. PMID 22325849.

References
  1. Ash, Lucy (16 July 2003). "India's dowry deaths". BBC. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
  2. Lakhani, Avnita (2005). "Bride-burning: the "elephant in the room" is out of control". Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal. 5 (2): 249–298. pdf.
  3. "Brideburning claims hundreds in India – CNN". Articles.cnn.com. 18 August 1996. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
  4. Kumar, Virendra; Kanth, Sarita (December 2004). "Bride burning". The Lancet. 364 (special issue): 18–19. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17625-3. PMID 15967137. S2CID 32625512.
  5. Pratap, Anita (11 September 1995). "Killed by greed and oppression". Time Magazine. Vol. 146 no. 11. Time Inc.
  6. Yasui, Brian (18 August 1996). "Indian Society Needs To Change". CNN. Retrieved 24 August 2007.
  7. Newage, Indian (16 January 2010). Disposal of Cases by Courts (PDF). National Crime Records Bureau, India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 May 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
  8. Nangia, Anshu (1996–1997). "Note: the tragedy of bride burning in India: how should the law address it?". Brooklyn Journal of International Law. 22: 637–694. Lexis Nexis. Archived 8 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Pardee, Laurel Remers (1996). "The dilemma of dowry deaths: domestic disgrace or international human rights catastrophe". Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law. 13: 491–522. Lexis Nexis. Archived 8 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  10. "Bride Burning" (PDF). 18 August 2011.
  11. Jutla, Rajni K.; Heimbach, David (March–April 2004). "Love burns: an essay about bride burning in India". Journal of Burn Care & Rehabilitation. 25 (2): 165–170. doi:10.1097/01.bcr.0000111929.70876.1f. PMID 15091143.
  12. "Rajesh Talwar". amazon.com.
  13. "The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961". wcd.nic.in. Ministry of Women and Child Development (India). 20 May 1961. Archived from the original on 9 September 2015.
  14. Johnson, Cate; et al., eds. (October 1996). "Annex C: Legal framework surrounding domestic violence in India". Domestic violence in India: recommendations of the women's rights team: report to USAID/India PROWID. pp. 28–42. (Explaining section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code.)
  15. Staff writer (23 July 1997). "Kitchen fires kill Indian brides with inadequate dowry". New Delhi, India: UPI. Extract.
  16. "World:South Asia Bride burning 'kills hundreds'". BBC.co.uk. 27 August 1999. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
  17. "Honour killings of girls and women (ASA 33/018/1999)". Amnesty International. 1 September 1999. Retrieved 29 December 2006.
  18. Ali, Sahar (28 July 2003). "Acid attack victim demands justice". BBC. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
  19. 'Pakistan: Honour killings of girls and women' in Amnesty International Report 1999, (London: September 1999)
  20. "South Asia | Bride burning 'kills hundreds'". BBC News. 27 August 1999. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
  21. Jilani, Hina (2004), "Violence against women: the legal system and institutional responses in Pakistan", in Goonesekere, Savitri; Ahmed, Eman M. (eds.), Violence, law and women's rights in South Asia, New Delhi Thousand Oaks, California: Sage, p. 161, ISBN 9780761997962. Preview.
  22. Ajmal, Umer Bin (25 April 2012). "Domestic violence". Dawn. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  23. Terzieff, Juliette (27 October 2002). "Pakistan's fiery shame: women die in stove deaths". Women's eNews.
  24. Rappaport, Helen, ed. (2001). Encyclopedia of women social reformers, volume 1. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 115. ISBN 9781576071014.
  25. Parameswaran, Radhika (1996). "Coverage of "Bride Burning" in the "Dallas Observer": a cultural analysis of the "Other"". Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. 16 (2–3): 69–100. doi:10.2307/3346804. JSTOR 3346804. Pdf.
  26. Greenberg, Judith G. (2003). "Criminalizing dowry deaths: the Indian experience". Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law. 11 (2): 801–846. Pdf.
  27. "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights". un.org. United Nations. Pdf.
  28. Cipriani, Linda (1993). "Gender and persecution: protecting women under international refugee law". Georgetown Immigration Law Journal. 7: 511–548.
  29. Gopal, Gita (1993). "Gender and economic inequality in India: the legal connection". Boston College Third World Law Journal. 13 (1): 63–86. Pdf.
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