Even after the enactment of the anti-dowry law, incidents like ‘Woman burns to death as sari pallu catches fire while cooking’ and ‘Woman slips into well while washing clothes, drowns and dies’ continued to be reported. Investigations still revealed dowry to be the most frequent cause of such deaths.
The role of the police, the administration and judiciary were highlighted. This created greater awareness. To overcome this menace the Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Act enacted in 1984.