Broken Mirrors: The 'Dowry Problem' in India

Robin Wyatt, with Nazia Masood, investigateswhy the specter of 'dowry death' continues to haunt Indian society even a decade into the 21st century, urging readers to look beyond the obvious. The narrative, as it effortlessly turns its gaze from the story of a survivor of domestic violence to that of one accused of the crime, smashes the conventional image of so-called 'dowry deaths'. It picks up each of the shattered pieces of the mirror and looks into them closely, and what emerges is a complex portrait of a society where marriage counseling remains taboo and inaccessible to large sections of the population, where the quest for 'justice', armed with powerful, 'pro-women' anti-dowry laws, brushes aside the truth behind the breakdown of many a perfect marriage.