Dowry, the terrorist

A youth in his early twenties was sent to jail for 10 years by a Delhi court today for burning alive his newly wed 18-year-old wife for dowry, a crime the judge compared with terrorism.

“In­laws are turning out to be outlaws perpetrating terrorism which destroys the matrimonial home. The terrorist is dowry and it is spreading tentacles in every possible direction,” district judge Sunita Gupta said while sentencing Nafis Khan of Welcome Colony in north-east Delhi.

“She (bride) expects not only to be a daughter­in­law but a daughter, in fact. But the alarming rise in the number of cases involving harassment of newly wed girls for dowry shatters the dreams,” said the court, which also imposed a fine of Rs 7,000 on Khan, rejecting his plea for leniency.

“The dowry system has become a menace to society…. The mere fact that the convict is a young man is not a mitigating circumstance. As such, he does not deserve any leniency,” the court said.