South Asia Banned Dowries. Why Are Brides Still Paying?
Two newlyweds died in Tamil Nadu in two days. The practice’s real cost isn’t gold or cars — it’s women’s lives.
Content warning: Mentions of suicide below.
“I am unable to bear their mental torture,” 27-year-old Ridhanya said in her last WhatsApp voice note to her father. “His parents are assaulting me mentally while he is torturing me physically.” Shortly after sending the message, the newlywed told her in-laws she was visiting a temple in Mondipalayam, Tamil Nadu. On the way there, she consumed a pesticide in lethal doses. The police declared her death a suicide.
The next day, 22-year-old newlywed Lokeshwari was found dead in her parents’ home in Chennai. The common factor in both stories? Dowry. Though the practice of the bride’s family giving money or goods to the groom has been outlawed for decades in India, banned in Bangladesh, and restricted in Pakistan, it has yet to truly disappear in the subcontinent. Outraged observers are asking the same question: when will dowry-related deaths end?