Dowry Law Page #5

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is somewhere over 6,500.

Unofficially, you know,

it could be as high as some say

25,000.

Anyway, the unit's

just been called out

to another case.

All we know at the moment

is it involves a woman

being burnt.

Uh, we should find out more

when we arrive in a few minutes.

[man speaking in Hindi]

Yeah, dead body is here,

in the vehicle.

[woman muttering]

[Adam]

The women's cell relies

on being tipped off

by the local police,

who've got to

the scene of the crime first.

They've already made

their minds up, what went on.

So, so what--

what happened in this case?

Burnt.

[officer]

Suicide.

Suicide.

Burnt herself.

[Adam]

Apparently, the neighbors

heard no argument

between the couple.

And the woman's parents

aren't here

to claim her death

was anything other than suicide.

She is saying,

"You eat food" to her husband,

but her husband refused,

because he was ill.

Then after, when he went out

and he--

[officer]

She committed suicide.

[Adam]

So it sounds an odd reason

to commit suicide,

because your husband

refuses to eat food.

This is the husband here?

[officer]

Yeah, yeah.

[woman 1]

Yeah, some cases are like this.

[Adam]

It's often claimed

the police are too quick

to dismiss a case,

because of ineptitude

or corruption.

[speaking in Hindi]

Are you getting the impression

that the police have--

have accepted this reason

almost without question?

I think the police

by and large accepts anything

which told to them,

so they don't have to do

much digging

and any investigation in depth.

They first accept

whatever is said

and then if somebody

makes a noise

about its unacceptability,

then they dig it up.

Then they start digging, right.

The paperwork done,

the woman's body is driven off

to the nearby mortuary.

Unless a member

of this dead woman's family

now comes and reports

this as a dowry crime,

this death is almost certainly

just gonna become

another meaningless statistic.

Who knows what actually happened

to this woman?

Suicide?

An accident, murder?

I have no idea.

And the police are apparently

not very interested

in finding out.

The body will be cremated

later today.

And the husband will go back

to his home.

Case closed.

Women are killed in India

in horrifying numbers,

because the chance of anyone

being prosecuted is remote.

And the men can go off

and marry again

and get another dowry.

In hospitals in Delhi,

there are case after case

of burned women,

while dowry demands

are getting bigger and bigger.

Could you just,

literally just tell us

what happened?

[speaking in Hindi]

[Adam]

Anoki is desperately ill.

She has 80% burns to her body.

Her sister-in-law

caught her hands from the back

and uh, the mother-in-law

poured kerosene over her

and then set her on fire.

[Adam]

Anoki is the classic

dowry victim.

Not pretty enough,

her dowry wasn't big enough,

and then on top of everything,

she gave birth to a girl.

She went--

She was sent home forcibly

she says for--

three years back.

And then her parents

went to her in-laws place

to say that

you should take her back.

So they wouldn't do that.

So I asked her,

"Why did they not

take you back?"

She says, "They just said that

they didn't like me."

So basically, you know,

her husband's family

didn't like her, so they--

they burnt her, set her on fire.

Yeah.

[Smita speaking in Hindi]

[Adam]

Anoki's father has been sitting

at her bedside for four months.

He says, "What's the point

of getting the police involved?

Nothing would happen,

it would just cause more trouble

for my family."

And they're not prepared

to press charges now,

because they're frightened

of what might happen?

Yeah.

I mean if they can burn her,

then they can do anything.

[chattering in background]

[Adam]

And do you get many cases

like this?

[muttering]

But we have got plenty of cases,

yes.

Hmm.

Of-- of women burned

in similar circumstances?

Most of the-- most of the cases

are--

You do--

Burned by a stove only.

Right.

I mean, you know this--

this woman claims

she was burned by her in-laws.

No, she is not saying that.

[Adam]

Well, she said her mother-in-law

is...

She's not saying that,

she's saying--

[Adam]

Well, that's what

she's just said to us.

[Smita]

The statement--

the statement she has given

is not that.

The police statement is that

she's-- it's an accident.

It's an accident, yes.

What she said,[Smita]

[Smita]

what she said to No, but she's--

[Adam]

That what she says

to the police,

but what she's saying to us

is that she was--

she was burned by her in-laws.

I've talked to her,

I've talked to her father also.

They are both saying

the same thing,

it's an accident.

[Adam]

Does it puzzle you,

as a burns doctor,

that there are loads and loads

of these accidents

involving cooking?

Doesn't happen anywhere else

in the world in the same way.

[doctor]

Yeah, it's not happening

in anywhere in the world,

but the main thing is that

the stove that they're using,

I know.

that's a peculiar stove.

I mean you're doing

wonderful things

to look after her,

but it just seems that you know,

there are so many cases

like this-- this woman.

And why do you think

she is giving us

a different version events?

[doctor]

I don't know.

Is she frightened?

[doctor]

I don't know that.

I mean you realize when you come

and see

what is a really sickening case

like this,

that they're the odds against

this sort of thing

ever being sorted out.

It's totally stacked against...

And you've got a girl here

who um, said she was burned

by her family.

She and her father

don't want to go to the police.

There seems to be a reluctance

by the system to investigate it

and you're left realizing

the whole thing is hopeless.

[speaking in Hindi]

[Adam]

Her father said

he hoped she'd recover.

But Anoki died a week later.

Afterwards, off-camera,

the doctor admitted

that most of the burns cases

were dowry crimes.

And Anoki's case remains

as listed, a kitchen accident.

[siren wailing]

[Adam]

The women's police cell

and its solitary van

are out on call again.

But they spend

much of their time

dealing with trivial cases.

There's been a report

that a woman has tried

to commit suicide,

because of dowry demands

by her husband.

But when we arrive

an hour later,

that story's being disputed.

The parents say

their daughter-in-law

has been using the dowry law

to blackmail them.

[Adam]

The police have little doubt

that the in-laws

were telling the truth.

They go to the hospital

where the woman

has admitted herself.

And they find that she'd taken

only two sleeping pills,

an attempt to put pressure

on her husband

to give her money.

She hates her in-laws.

[Adam]

Because the woman

alleged dowry abuse,

the women's police unit

had to answer the call.

Valuable hours wasted

on exactly the sort of case

they shouldn't be dealing with.

Meanwhile, serious dowry crime

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