Posted on 02/05/2006 2:39:01 PM PST by ncountylee
POLICE in eastern India are hunting a groom who quit his marriage ceremony midway when his bride's parents said they could not meet his dowry demand of a motorcycle, an official said Sunday.
Rajiv Shaw, 31, walked out of the ceremony at Chitpur on the outskirts of the West Bengal state capital of Calcutta yesterday after springing the surprise demand, police official Sheikh Abdul Rajjack said. The bride's mother, Urmila Devi, said her daughter's marriage with Shaw, an autorickshaw driver, was fixed last November.
She had handed over 65,000 rupees ($1967) in cash besides furniture, kitchen utensils and gold ornaments as a dowry.
"Rajiv demanded a motorcycle on the day of marriage," Devi said.
"My husband is an employee in a local electric shop. We have sold out everything to get our daughter married. It's beyond our reach to give him a motorcycle," she told AFP.
Police were on the lookout for Shaw after arresting his father and the matchmaker who arranged the wedding on charges of seeking dowry, Rajjack said.
Although the demanding and giving of a dowry was officially banned in 1961, the practice continues.
Every year, about 6000 women are killed in India – often doused with kerosene and set on fire in staged kitchen "accidents" – or harassed into suicide by husbands and in-laws angered by unmet dowry demands.
Moose or non-moose?
Non, probably.
Sick people.
Well, in this country, a guy doesn't usually find out until after he's married that he's not gonna get (or get to keep) his motorcycle. I figure if she gets to have her "menstrual cycle", I should get to have my motorcycle and, besides, motorcycles are safer.
India has a surplus of unwanted females, China has a growing lack of females, maybe they should start trade negotiations.
The bride is lucky . A more common practice is to throw kerosene on her and burn her to death, claiming the stove exploded.
The dowries in India do not imply a surplus of women - abortion, infanticide and neglect of little girls have killed off many.
Mrs VS
Actually, I think India is headed in the same direction as China, because there are many abortions of female babies.
How many do they have to kill off to make Indian girls valuable, instead of having to pay to give them away?
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