PIP: The Dowry Prohibition Act in India was passed in 1961 and amended in 1984 and 1986. The law was enacted in order to prevent "dowry deaths" or the murder of a wife by her husband. The law is considered ineffective because it does not account for the parents of the girl who deprive her of education and opportunity, cloister her, and then marry her off at an early age. Wife murder in India is said to take place for economic reasons, i.e., to remarry and get more dowry. That Hindu men abandon or divorce wives, or commit bigamy belies that economics are the sole reason. The amendments to the Dowry Act are assessed separately in order to examine their impact on domestic violence. Section 498 (known as Sec.498A) of the Indian Penal Code prohibited cruelty to wives, and was enforced only when it was related to dowry; the code was narrowly constructed to omit general violence faced by women. Complaints of wife beating had to be accompanied by complaints related to dowry to be taken seriously by the police. The result was usually husband acquittal. Another problem is that wives place and then drop charges. The law is not without impact, because usually 1 or 2 days in prison is sufficient for the husband to understand that his wife means to stop the abuse. Section 304B is directed to marital murder, or death under unnatural circumstances, within 7 years of her marriage and dowry harassment by the husband or his relatives. The husband must prove he is not responsible for her death. The law is ineffective because complaints about unreasonable dowry demand are rarely made, and the assumption is that death would occur within 7 years. Murder is also dealt with in the Section 302, punishment for murder; Section 306, abetment to suicide; and Section 498A. Examples of 3 cases are provided, which show how even in seemingly clear-cut cases, the husband is acquitted by the highest courts. The most recent judgment in the Bombay High Court, where the husband filed criminal charges against his wife and his wife filed a complaint under Sec. 498A, found the husband guilty. In appeals, the High Court finally upheld the fine and dropped the imprisonment. New forms of female inequity are abortion of female fetuses and sister suicide pacts to prevent the shame for parents of an unmarried daughter.