Bhubaneswar: May 12, 2026: Model and actor Trisha Sharma was found dead at her marital home in Bhopal. Trisha’s family allege that she was tortured and murdered for dowry.

1239 km away from Bhopal, in Jajpur, Odisha, 21 year old Pramila Das’s body was exhumed on May 18, when her parents allege that she was murdered for dowry.  

The two tragic instances, thousand kms away and within a span of a week, brings to glare the growing silent epidemic in Indian society.

It is a chilling reminder of a brutal social reality that continues to claim the lives of women across India every single day.

For which, SG Tushar Mehta in SC made a very poignant submission, when he said, “One thing is clear that the girl has lost her life, whether it’s by suicide or by any other criminal act…For parents, the moral is that it’s better to have a divorced daughter than a dead one,”

While high-profile incidents briefly spark outrage and national debate, the larger crisis remains deeply entrenched – unfolding silently inside homes, away from headlines and public scrutiny.

15 Women Die Every Day in India

Dowry-related violence remains one of India’s darkest social scars. On average, nearly 15 women are killed every day over dowry disputes, harassment, or abuse linked to marital expectations.

These are not isolated domestic incidents. They reflect a systemic social failure that persists despite decades of laws, awareness campaigns, and public discourse.

The scale of the crisis becomes starkly visible in the 2024 figures.

5,618 women lost their lives in dowry-related deaths across the country in just one year.

The burden, however, is concentrated heavily in certain regions.

Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of dowry deaths at 2,038 cases, followed by Bihar (1,078), Madhya Pradesh (450), Rajasthan (386), Jharkhand (206), and Odisha (200).

Odisha’s Grim Reality

In Odisha, the issue continues to remain a grave social concern. Though the state accounts for 3.49% of India’s female population, it contributes nearly 3.5% of the country’s dowry deaths – a distressing reflection of how deeply rooted the problem remains.

A prospective study, published in International Journal of Medicine and Public Health in 2025, conducted on dowry-related deaths in coastal Odisha between 2017 and 2019 offers a very disturbing insight into the pattern behind these tragedies.

The findings reveal that the most vulnerable victims were women aged between 22 and 26 years, accounting for over half of all cases.

The risk was found to be highest during the first three years of marriage, with the second year emerging as the most dangerous phase.

The study also exposed the domestic conditions surrounding these deaths.

Nearly 90.55% of victims lived in joint families, while 94.05% died inside their in-laws’ homes – the very spaces expected to provide security, dignity, and acceptance after marriage.

In Odisha, majority of dowry deaths were reported from rural areas followed by semi-urban. Urban areas account for a share of 11%.

Bride burning tops in Odisha:

The study shows burn injuries accounted for 64.7% of the deaths, followed by poisoning (22.02%) and hanging (10.8%).

Investigators found that many incidents were preceded by recurring domestic quarrels, emotional abuse, disputes over household responsibilities, and sustained pressure linked to dowry demands.

Nearly 46.8% of the cases were triggered by quarrels, while conflicts related to cooking (an alibi to mount torture over insufficient dowry) accounted for another 35.66%.

Beyond Class, Beyond Geography

The tragedy of cases like Trisha Sharma’s – emerging even from affluent and influential circles – underlines a painful truth.

Dowry is not confined to rural India or economically weaker households. The practice cuts across class, caste, education, and geography, though its manifestations may differ.

Because of which, in many parts of society, daughters are still perceived as financial burdens, a mindset that has also contributed to female foeticide, skewed sex ratios, and long-term demographic imbalance.

So, every dowry death is not merely a statistic. It is a devastating reminder of how far society still has to go in valuing the dignity, safety, and equality of its daughters.

Also Read: Odisha Law and Order / Odisha Police Rounds Up 1,771 Criminals, But Why Do High-Profile Crimes Still Grab Headlines? | Analysis