Rohilkhand University Keeps Up Anti-Dowry Push, Walks Students Through Their Legal Rights
BAREILLY: Students at Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University in Bareilly are getting a crash course in the law around dowry, as the university continues an awareness drive launched on the directions of the Uttar Pradesh government. The campaign, running under the patronage of Vice-Chancellor Prof. K.P. Singh, is meant to make students think hard about the harm dowry causes and know exactly where they stand legally — both as future spouses and as citizens.
Speaking to students, the Vice-Chancellor didn’t mince words: dowry, he said, isn’t just an old social custom that’s overstayed its welcome — it strikes at the heart of women’s dignity, equality and self-respect. He asked students to make a personal pledge to neither give nor take dowry, and to carry that stance home, pushing back against the practice within their own families and communities. An educated generation that actually pays attention, he added, can do more than anyone to stamp out habits like this.
The session itself was fairly detailed. Students were taken through the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, and told plainly that giving, taking, or even asking for dowry is a criminal offence. They also learned about the broader legal net around it — provisions in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita covering dowry deaths, which carry a minimum sentence of seven years and can stretch to life imprisonment. Specific sections came up too: Section 3 of the 1961 Act, which punishes giving or taking dowry, Section 4, which criminalises simply demanding it, and the 1985 rules requiring couples to maintain a list of wedding gifts — a safeguard meant to make it harder to disguise dowry as “gifts.”
Registrar Mahendra Kumar Singh added his own appeal, asking students to stand against dowry and help build a culture around equality, dignity, and dowry-free weddings.
Cultural Coordinator Dr. Jyoti Pandey, who helped run the programme, said the point was simple — get students genuinely engaged with the issue, make sure they know their rights and responsibilities under the law, and nudge society a little further toward marriages built on equality rather than transaction. The event drew support from Registrar Mahendra Kumar Singh, Dr. Jyoti Pandey, Dr. Inderpreet Kaur, and a large group from the Cultural Club — Rakhi, Nilashi, Meena, Ria, Sneha, Pushpa, Deepti, Bharti, Anjali, Sakshi, Vaishnavi and Meenu.
Report by Akhilesh Chandra Saxena, Bareilly
