The bestowing of dowries is an ancient tradition. Unlike the Western concept of a single ‘‘bride payment’’, the Indian tradition consists of an ongoing series of gifts both before and after the marriage to appease the husband and his family. In Western culture, a young married couple establishes their own home with both partners contributing to the welfare of their new ‘‘family’’, while in India, the husband’s family takes in the bride, adding a financial burden to the extended family living arrangements. When the dowry demands are not met, husbands and in-laws render significant mental and physical harassment on the young brides in an effort to encourage her family to fulfill their dowry obligations and even kill the young bride1. Dowry deaths …show more content…
Most dowry deaths occur when the young woman, unable to bear the harassment and torture, commits suicide. Most of these suicides are by hanging, poisoning or by fire. In dowry deaths, the groom’s family is the perpetrator of murder or suicide.2 Poisonong by pesticides is very common in our country. Suicide rates in India have been reported to be high (Joseph et al, 2003; Aaron et al, 2004; Abraham et al, 2005; Prasad et al, 2006), with 1741 suicides documented in a population of about 100 000 from 1986 to 2005 where hanging (804 of 1741, 46.2%) and poisoning (746 of 1741, 42.8%) were the methods most commonly employed. Detailed analysis of the data from 2001 to 2005 revealed that 68% of the fatal episodes of self-poisoning were a result of ingestion of pesticides3. Self-poisoning with pesticides is a significant public health problem in low- and middle-income countries like …show more content…
The national crime Record Bureau says that there were over 6000 dowry-related deaths every year. There was also surge in dowry related deaths i.e. from 400 a year in 1980s to 6000 a year in 1990s4. Most of the victims reached hospital too late, when the poison had already been absorbed and thus many died within 24 h. If patients reached the hospital in time, they did not necessarily receive proper treatment because of lack of adequate facilities at the PHC level hospital. Most of the incidents occurred during morning hour or midday hour perhaps because of increased tensions and problems at these times. The survival period of within 24 h in 94.25% of fatalities was reported in study conducted at
The term forensic toxicology is defined as examination of all aspects of toxicity that may have legal implications (James & Nordby, 2009 p. 61). In the past, poisoning was one of the most popular forms of murder. There are countless natural substances in the world that when ingested into the body in high doses, can become lethal to the human body. What made this form of murder so famous is that most poisons mimic common medical diseases, leading physicians to believe a victim died of natural causes (Ramsland, n.d.). Aside from murder, this forensic discipline is also essential for determining accidental deaths and suicides.
Rupa, D. S., Reddy, P. P. and 0. S. Reddi. 1991 Reproductive performance in population exposed to pesticides in cotton fields in India. Environment research 55:123-128.
Not only does the oleander plant bear an effulgent, congenial and vibrant flower, but it also produces a milky sap that if ingested, can be a rather pernicious toxin. It is one of the many methods that families in India utilize to rid themselves of the social and economic encumbrance that comes with birthing a female infant. However, the killing of females solely based on their sex is not an infrequent phenomenon. Female Infanticide- the systematic homicide of female infants can be seen evident in both indigenous and sophisticated cultures around the world. Be that as it may, in India a most brutal form of killing females takes place regularly, even before they have the opportunity to be born. This practice can be recognized Feticide- the selective abortion of female fetuses.
According to Oldenburg, in India, pressurized kerosene stoves are used along with a match to kill women, as “it is easy to pass off…as an accident because these stoves are prone to explode.” To Westerners, this is shocking because through our cultural lens, we aggrandize these accounts, disregarding how, “Burning a woman to death in the Indian context is no more “exotic” than shooting her to death in the U.S. context” (Narayan 102). It is stories like these that perpetuate “border-crossings,” or issues that emerge from the spanning of multinational bounds, and are subsequently misconstrued, or unable to be deciphered in the new contexts and cultural realms they find themselves in. The discernable significance here, is the failure of Western societies to glean the importance behind dowry-murders. The byproducts of “border-crossings” contribute to this, because they work to cloud the lens used by American citizens to visualize the customs of Third-World nations. Consequently, women living in India are not provided with same agency as women in the United States, as the aggrandizement of violence—namely dowry-murder—begets a situation where they are seen as “victims.” This Western “victimization” collocates all Third-World women, in that it heeds no attention to their specific stories, but rather only the horrific tales told in Western nations of the senseless acts of violence that seem to stereotype Indian culture. In turn, Indian women suffer the loss of maintaining any individual agency, because from an outside frame of reference, they are all one in the same, and thus, cannot be evaluated on an individual
“Arranging a Marriage in India” by Serena Nanda is a well written, informative article aimed at sharing the view of the Indian culture on arranged marriages and also showing how much effort is put into the process of arranging a marriage. Our own culture has evolved into accepting the fact that we are all independent individuals who could not imagine having someone else make such a significant decision for us. Serena Nanda does an excellent job of using her sources within the society as evidence of the acceptance of the arranged marriage aspect of their culture.
The practice of female infanticide shows how desirable having a male child is that parents would take the lives of a female baby. The dowry system in India is the main cause of female infanticide in India. Gender inequalities in the rural part of northern India exhibit female infanticide occurs here the most despite laws to abolish these acts. Men hold a higher value in this society because a system they adapted many years ago. Men are seen as an asset or of value because at one point his future wife and her family will “pay” for him. Daughters are opposite and viewed as a burden to the family because she will have to marry one day and that will cost her parents. So women are not viewed equally here even as infants, they don’t even stand a chance. Officials have tried to make laws to assist in reducing female infanticide but people have continued to follow traditions of the dowry systems putting the population at risk as well
Toxicology is the investigation of the unfavourable impacts of chemicals on living creatures. Forensic toxicology takes it above and beyond, including various related controls to aid in the location and elucidation of pills and harms poisons and drugs in medico legitimate passing examinations, human execution issues; e.g.,
Arranged marriage is the union of a man and woman which is brought about by someone other than the bride and groom (“Arranged” 1). Recent research has shown that arranged marriages may have originated during the Vedic period of Indian history (Chettri 1). Although many arranged marriages generally rely on the consent of the bride and groom, in some cases, one or both of them is forced to marry without a choice and in others, they are too pressured to refuse (Reiss 1). Technically, arranged marriage is not forced marriage, but parents have been known to use foul methods that often resembled the latter such as bribery, threats or blackmail (Zuberi 1). Traditionally, parents began to choose children’s future spouse because, as said in an article on GoodTherapy.org, “some cultures believe that the choice of a child’s spouse is best made by his or her parents.” (1). The purpose of arranged marriage varies, the three traditional purposes were to help families politically, militarily, and socially (“Arranged” 1).
... confirm it can be overbearing as it ruins their emotional and physical well-being. Though one may try to be cautious or remain passive in the operation, it is impossible to avoid the poison’s inevitable end you have been given. This taintedness can harm not only oneself, their family and even their country as it destroyed their purity, sanity and life it does the same for those around them. If ever offered the chance to know what lies ahead in life, once needs to realize that temptation might drive you to do horrible things in order to reach such goals. Fate is best left up to chance, and tampering with the order of things can lead to the destruction of apparent free will and to the happiness life is supposed to bring.
In the western world, it is common for a little girl to imagine herself walking down the aisle in a beautiful white gown and her father at her side ready to hand her over into the hands of the man of her dreams. However, in Sub-Saharan African societies like Ghana and Uganda, girls dream of the day when a man, along with his family, will come to her father’s house and propose a bride price to perform the traditional marriage rights. Bride price according to Gita Sen is problematic in that it is defined as a payment made by a prospective husband to the family of a woman he wishes to marry (Sen). From Sen’s definition, it is evident that bride price not only highlights the dominance of patriarchy in African societies but emphasizes the objectification of women as payments are made in exchange of a bride/woman.
This is an inevitable consequence of the barriers in seeking timely and effective treatment for mental illness in rural India: unavailability of mental health services, low level of literacy, socio- cultural barriers, superstition stemming from traditional and religious beliefs, stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness.
“One woman dies every hour due to dowry related reasons on an average in the country” (“The Times of India”). Dowry system is profoundly an immoral custom which is dominant in India; where the family of a bride have to offer money, gold or expensive items like car, refrigerator to the groom’s family. However, dowry was considered as a traditional ritual where gifts were given to the daughter and her new family by her parents with their will. Dowry has been practiced in our societies from a very long time, even the ancient Romans used to carry out this ritual. “Romans used to exchange the gifts and dowry” (“Weddings, Marriages and Divorce”). Dowry system is becoming fatal gradually, but there are fewer people who notice the consequences of it.
According to a Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) study of 2008/09 done by the ministry of health and population in Nepal, suicide was found to be the leading cause of death among the Nepalese women. Nepal is a landlocked country with the population of 26.5 million among whom 51.5% are female while 48.5% are male (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2011) . Nepal offers a variety of diversity in regards to its religion, values, ethnicities, and geography, which have a huge impact on the socio-economic status of the people. In addition, Nepal is hugely a patriarchal society with a transparent social and economic disparity throughout the country due to its hindu caste- based hierarchy. As a result we can see that there is a huge unequal gap between the marginalized and disadvantaged groups who are usually the people at the bottom of the caste hierarchy (untouchables or Dalit and Janajati).
Recently the suicide rate has dropped by half. This decline has been accredited to people moving out of the rural where suicide was done by ingesting pesticides, into the city where suicide by this method is rare. In 1999 the suicide rate was 23 per 100,000 people; however, in 2011, the rated dropped drastically to 9.8 per 100, 000 people. Another alarming suicide rate that was high was among women in China. Women suicide rate is significantly higher than that of Chinese men. The age range of the women was between the ages 15-34. The suicide was said to be attributed to the one child policy or the pressure marry early in China. In many countries women are thought to be lesser than men and very strict rules on how women should live their life and be treated. The women suicide rate in China was 37.8 per 100, 000 in the late 1990’s, dropping to 3 per 100,000 in 2011
In Indian society daughter is considered to be a burden as her contribution to the family is till her marriage. During marriage the brides’ families have to give certain amount of money or land or other tangible property as dowry to the groom’s family. And the bad thing is that, the property, which was given by the bride’s family to the groom’s family, the bride does not have any right on it even though it was given by her family. Though the system of dowry is prohibited in India, but still it is directly or indirectly prevalent in certain states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and