India, May 20 -- Dowry in India is no longer merely a social evil; it has evolved into a deeply embedded system of domestic violence, coercion, and psychological terror against women. Marriage, which society glorifies as sacred and as the ultimate destination for women, often becomes for many young girls a site of fear, humiliation, abuse, and sometimes death. The growing number of suspicious suicides and dowry-related deaths of newly married women raises an uncomfortable but urgent question: What kind of social institution have we normalised in the name of marriage?

The latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data reveals the scale of this crisis. According to the NCRB's latest Crime in India report, more than 1.2 lakh cases of "cru...