Dowry deaths in India have faded from public debate, study finds

A new study finds that dowry murders in India no longer provoke public outrage or political debate, despite thousands of women dying each year.

• In 2022, India recorded 6,516 dowry deaths, up from 1,841 in 1988, according to the study.
• Dr. Kriti Kapila, the study’s author, said dowry killings have shifted from staged kitchen fires to suicides, turning public grief into private shame.
• Kapila stated that legal reforms outlawing dowry in 1961 failed to dismantle the social structures that sustain dowry demands.
• Last August, Nikki Bhati, a 28-year-old woman, was set alight by her husband in a dowry dispute, sparking brief protests that lost momentum.