The Supreme Court has ruled that a person cannot be convicted for merely demanding dowry unless the demand is followed by mental or physical torture resulting in the death of the victim. A Bench of Justices R M Lodha and A K Patnaik said in a judgement that the prosecution has to establish convincing evidence that the accused had subjected the victim to torture soon before her death in connection...

Khap-sanctioned honour killings in north India may have hogged all the headlines but such sordid incidents have been reported from all over the country, a recent study has concluded. While there has been a spate of incidents in western Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, incidents have also been reported from other parts of the country. "We have been receiving complaints from states like Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Andhra...

In India, where traditionally boys have been preferred over girls, a village in backward Bihar state has been setting an example by planting trees to celebrate the birth of a girl child. In Dharhara village, Bhagalpur district, families plant a minimum of 10 trees whenever a girl child is born. And this practice is paying off. Nikah Kumari, 19, is all set to get married in early June. The would-be...

A woman was allegedly poisoned to death by her husband and in-laws for bringing inadequate dowry, police said today. In a police complaint, victim's father Prithvi Singh has alleged that Sangeet's husband Naresh, brother-in-law Mukesh and mother-in-law Sumitra Devi gave poison to his daughter yesterday. Singh also accused the trio of harassing his daughter for bringing inadequate dowry, they said. Meanwhile, police has registered a case under various sections of...

Getting 55 weddings done in 90 minutes flat won't rank as a record. Getting them done at no cost to the very poor families involved might qualify as one. That these are actually part of a successful Maharashtra government programme surely sets this up for a Guinness Book entry. The 55 couples in Nandura tehsil of Buldhana district are all Muslims. And there's a dual minority angle to it —...