India, Aug. 25 -- The day after 28-year-old Nikki Bhati was set afire in UP's Greater Noida, allegedly by her husband and in-laws because she could not get them another Rs.36 lakh from her parents, a similar story unfolded in Rajasthan's Jodhpur, where a teacher set herself and her three-year-old daughter on afire.

The child died instantly while the teacher, who succumbed to the injuries on Saturday, left a suicide note about harassment by her husband and his family for more dowry.

Dowry was declared illegal six decades ago, but these two cases - and many that go unreported for years due to societal pressure - reveal how the deadly practice of giving "gifts" to the groom is alive and well. And the perpetrators, or even the givers of dow...