July 13, 2021
Brides stand outside a toilet as they wait for their grooms at the venue for a mass marriage ceremony in Kolkata, June 18, 2014.
Reuters
A spate of suspected dowry deaths in India’s Kerala state has reignited debate on the cultural practice, with a top official condemning it as a “social evil” in a region that boasts the nation’s best literacy rate and sex ratio, but also records the largest dowry amounts on average.
At least four young women, all aged below 25, have lost their lives in the past weeks under suspicious circumstances, including a 21-year-old who died on Sunday (July 11) in what police believe was a suicide after she was allegedly ill-treated by her husband and mother-in-law.