Now, the bride pays loan EMIs and MBA fees as dowry takes on a new disguise
- Mohua DasHimanshi Dhawan
- TNNUpdated: May 23, 2026, 19:29 IST IST
A video was circulated widely in 2024 that many shared with a mix of outrage and familiarity. At a wedding somewhere in north India, a man stands at the microphone and reads aloud, with the calm of reciting a grocery list, ‘gifts’ for the groom at the wedding ceremony: “a Mercedes-Benz E200, a Toyota Fortuner, 1.25 kg of gold, 7 kg of silver, Rs 72 lakh in cash.” None of the guests appears shocked. And that is perhaps the clearest indication of how dowry survives in modern India.
Public outrage around dowry has resurfaced in recent weeks after a series of deaths — from Twisha Sharma in Bhopal and Deepika Nagar in Greater Noida to the recent case of Pushpendri Devi in Meerut. But ask anyone who works with survivors of marital violence, from Kolkata to Bengaluru to rural Assam, and they will tell you that while the word ‘dowry’ is being used less, it hides behind softer, more socially accepted vocabulary of “gifts”, “help”, “support” and “settling the couple”.
Public outrage around dowry has resurfaced in recent weeks after a series of deaths — from Twisha Sharma in Bhopal and Deepika Nagar in Greater Noida to the recent case of Pushpendri Devi in Meerut. But ask anyone who works with survivors of marital violence, from Kolkata to Bengaluru to rural Assam, and they will tell you that while the word ‘dowry’ is being used less, it hides behind softer, more socially accepted vocabulary of “gifts”, “help”, “support” and “settling the couple”.
