Opinion | Degrees, SUVs, Gold: Why India's Most 'Qualified' Men Often Demand The Steepest Dowries |
May 22, 2026 19:12 pm IST
Opinion | Degrees, SUVs, Gold: Why India's Most 'Qualified' Men Often Demand The Steepest Dowries
Education, ironically, is more of an enabler of the practice than a hindrance, per a 2023 study quoted by the BBC
Srishti Kapoor Srishti Kapoor Senior Copy Editor
Srishti Kapoor Senior Copy Editor
A high-end SUV. A Royal Enfield motorcycle. Nearly 500 grams of gold. Cash. None of it was enough. The list of "gifts" handed over to the family of Nikki Bhati's husband after her marriage read less like a customary exchange and more like a negotiated transaction. Yet, after all that, her husband's family allegedly wanted another Rs 36 lakh. When they didn't get it, their persistent demands turned to torture, detailed in videos and her sister's accounts. Ultimately, she died in front of her young child, allegedly set on fire.
Vipin Bhati, who described himself as an advocate on his Instagram page but was unemployed, showed no remorse. The country remained hooked to updates on the case, seethed with anger, and finally saw Vipin go to jail. That is how the story of a woman, who was married in a traditional arranged set-up into an abusive family but ran a beauty salon and made content to have a sliver of independence, saw the light, and then faded out.
A year has gone by, and four alleged dowry deaths within a week have again brought a prehistoric practice, criminalised 65 years ago, to our attention. Greater Noida's Deepika Nagar allegedly fell from her matrimonial home's terrace, 17 months after her marriage. In Bhopal, Noida's Twisha Sharma was found dead in her........