Beyond Class, Beyond Community: Why Dowry Harassment Still Persists in Modern India
For decades, dowry has often been talked about as a problem confined to economically weaker or socially conservative sections of society. But the uncomfortable reality emerging today shows us the mirror as it is. From middle-class households to affluent urban families, from educated professionals to financially independent women, dowry-linked harassment and emotional abuse continue to exist behind closed doors — often hidden beneath the image of “good families” and socially respectable homes.
Recent incidents across the country, including the Twisha Sharma, Deepika Nagar cases, have once again forced society to confront a difficult question: despite women breaking barriers across industries, achieving financial independence, and becoming more outspoken about their choices, why does marriage still become a space of pressure, harassment and criminality for so many women? Experts point out that the issue is not just about monetary demands. It is about deeply ingrained gender discrimination and cultural conditioning that continue to define a woman’s worth through marriage, “adjustment”, sacrifice, and silence.
In an effort to counter the above, Times Now Navbharat Digital has launched a special campaign titled “Ab Bas…”. in response to the rising number of dowry harassment cases, dowry-related deaths, and instances of abuse faced by women after marriage across the country. The campaign becomes necessary not just to report incidents in detail, but to also spotlight the larger societal mindset that continues to enable such behaviour across class divides as well as the response of the authorities. The campaign will be run on the website www.timesnownavbharat.com and social media handles: @timesnow.navbharat(Instagram); @TNNavbharat (X); Timesnownavbharat (FB); @timesnownavbharat (Youtube).
Through this initiative, Times Now Navbharat Digital aims to create deeper conversations around marital abuse, misogyny, and the cultural biases that continue to shape gender roles in Indian society. At a time when younger generations are increasingly vocal about equality, consent, independence, and dignity, the campaign also attempts to understand how cultural attitudes towards marriage and women are evolving — and where society continues to fall short.
The primary focus of the “Ab Bas” campaign will be on the mindset that turns marriage into a transaction instead of a relationship. It will address issues related to mental, emotional, and financial abuse, while also questioning the silence of many parts of society around such practices. The campaign will prominently feature insights from sociologists, psychologists, and legal experts. Special articles focusing on women’s rights, marital relationships, mental health, and legal awareness will be published as part of the initiative. Expert conversations and experience-based informative content designed to educate, empower, and sensitize women and parents will also form an integral part of the campaign. Details of responses from authorities and the judiciary will be examined, so that there is a focus on the institutional framework whose role is the most basic in ensuring justice for survivors and victims.
Times Network, had earlier launched a similar initiative, titled, “SafeHer Times”, to address critical and age-old societal behaviours such as misogyny, objectification, and ignorance towards women — attitudes that often lead to harassment, abuse, and heinous crimes against women and young girls on a daily basis. Through this movement, the platform raised awareness, encouraged behavioural change, and promoted a safer and more respectful environment for women across the country.
With its extensive reach across multiple vernacular digital platforms, Times Now Navbharat Digital hopes to take this conversation beyond urban bubbles and into households across the country, ensuring that the issue is not seen as “someone else’s problem”, but as a collective social responsibility.