715 dowry related deaths in Delhi, but no convictions in last four years

The city of Delhi witnesses at least 10 dowry cases being registered every day. However, in the last four years there has not been a single conviction in any dowry case registered from across the city.

A senior police officer, wishing not to be named, said in 90-95% cases, couples compromise. “Collecting evidence is difficult because the harassment and abuse is reported months after the crime. In many cases, women withdraw their complaints. Dowry items are returned. Families get involved and they arrive at a compromise,” the officer said.

Out of the 1,330 cases (all pending trial) that HT analysed, most cases were registered from areas of Vijay Vihar (34), Dabri (32), Tilak Nagar (31), Gokulpuri (25) and Bindapur(25).

There are only 11 persons who have been convicted for dowry harassment, out of over 14,000 prisoners in Tihar

The number of cases can also be directly related to the population of an area. In terms of ratio between dowry and other cases, areas such as Sagarpur and Dabri had the most number of dowry cases. In Sagarpur, out of 139 cases, 20 (14.38%) and in Dabri, out of the 248 cases, 32(12.90%) were dowry cases.

In the last five years, 715 women have died in cases allegedly related to dowry. All the dowry death cases between 2012 and 2016 were registered on the orders of sub-divisional magistrate or a court. Jyoti Nagar, Aman Vihar, Sagarpur and Narela and Samaipur Badli registered the most dowry deaths.

Out of the 54 dowry deaths till June this year, there were four deaths in Jyoti Nagar followed by three in the other four areas.

Credit:
Hindustan Times: August 14, 2017 Page 4