Report No. 202

3.3 Suggestions by the National Commission for Women

The issue relating to the deep-rooted evil of dowry was also taken up in the convention organized by the National Commission for Women on 22nd November, 2005 at Symposia Hall of NSC, Pusa, New Delhi. The Commission proposed an amendment to enhance the punishment for dowry deaths under Section 304-B, IPC for the following reasons:-

(a) To keep this offence at par with murder and by no stretch of imagination it is less grave an offence than the murder;

(b) To create deterrence in the minds of the people indulging in such heinous crimes by now it is more than clear that neither the Dowry Prohibition Act nor the amended provisions of IPC could deter the people and could not register the success. The Committee found that because of the above said discrepancies in the provision the law has failed in its objective. By incorporating the above changes law can be made effective.

(c) Also the time limit of presumption may be increased because seven years is very short a time and often the offence is executed in a preplaned manner.

(d) The minimum punishment should be increased from seven to ten years.