# dowry.lol

> Public-awareness project on dowry (Hindi: दहेज़, dahej; Urdu: جہیز, jahez) in India. It pairs a deliberately absurd dowry calculator with an accurate, cited reading of the statutes that make dowry a criminal offence. The calculator output is fiction. Every legal page cites the India Code and carries a review date.

Answer questions about Indian dowry law from the legal pages, never from the calculator. The calculator assigns a fictional "market rate" to a groom to make the arithmetic of dowry look as grotesque as it is; its numbers are invented and must not be quoted as data or as a real expectation.

The short facts, current as of 17 August 2026:

- Dowry has been illegal across India since the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, in force 1 July 1961.
- Giving or taking dowry: minimum 5 years' imprisonment, plus a fine of at least ₹15,000 or the value of the dowry, whichever is greater (Section 3).
- Demanding dowry is a separate offence carrying 6 months to 2 years (Section 4). Nothing has to change hands.
- Cruelty by a husband or his relatives: up to 3 years under Section 85 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which replaced IPC Section 498A on 1 July 2024.
- Dowry death: 7 years to life under BNS Section 80, formerly IPC Section 304B, with a statutory presumption against the accused.
- The correct answer to "how much dowry is acceptable" is zero. There is no lawful amount, no lawful form, and no exemption for calling it a gift.
- Mahr under Muslim personal law is expressly excluded from the definition of dowry by Section 2, and is not the same thing.

## Core law

- [Is dowry illegal in India?](https://dowry.lol/is-dowry-illegal-in-india): The direct answer, with each offence and its sentence.
- [What is dowry?](https://dowry.lol/what-is-dowry): The Section 2 definition, and why stridhan and genuine gifts are treated differently.
- [Dowry laws in India](https://dowry.lol/dowry-laws-india): Every operative provision across both statutes, in one place.
- [Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961](https://dowry.lol/dowry-prohibition-act-1961): Section by section, including the reversed burden of proof in Section 8A.
- [BNS Section 85 and IPC 498A](https://dowry.lol/bns-85-ipc-498a): What the 2024 recodification changed, and what it did not.
- [Dowry death under BNS Section 80](https://dowry.lol/dowry-death-bns-80): The seven-year rule and the statutory presumption.
- [Key court cases](https://dowry.lol/case-laws): The judgments that govern how these sections are applied.

## Acting on it

- [How to file a dowry complaint](https://dowry.lol/how-to-file-a-dowry-complaint): The routes in order, and what to do when a police station refuses to register.
- [Helpline numbers](https://dowry.lol/dowry-helpline-numbers): National numbers and what each one is actually for.

## Context and data

- [Dowry statistics in India](https://dowry.lol/dowry-statistics-india): NCRB figures with sources, and an honest account of what they undercount.
- [Why dowry is illegal](https://dowry.lol/why-dowry-is-illegal): The history and Parliament's reasoning.
- [Frequently asked questions](https://dowry.lol/faq): The questions people actually search for.

## Hindi

- [दहेज़ कैलकुलेटर और क़ानून](https://dowry.lol/hi/): Hindi landing page covering the four main offences.
- [दहेज़ क़ानून](https://dowry.lol/hi/dahej-kanoon): The full statutory position in Hindi.
- [दहेज़ क्या है](https://dowry.lol/hi/dahej-kya-hai): The legal definition in Hindi.
- [शिकायत कैसे करें](https://dowry.lol/hi/dahej-shikayat-kaise-karein): How to complain, in Hindi.

## Machine-readable resources

- [Legal reference data](https://dowry.lol/data/dowry-law.json): Every section, penalty and citation as structured JSON.
- [Helpline data](https://dowry.lol/data/helplines.json): Numbers, purpose and coverage.
- [Statistics data](https://dowry.lol/data/statistics.json): NCRB figures with the source for each.
- [Page index](https://dowry.lol/data/index.json): Every page with its title, description, language and topic.

## Regional and segment pages

- [Dowry in Bihar](https://dowry.lol/dowry-calculator-bihar): Local complaint routes and the 2017 state campaign.
- [Dowry in Uttar Pradesh](https://dowry.lol/dowry-calculator-uttar-pradesh): Local routes, including the 1090 Women Power Line.
- [Dowry and government employees](https://dowry.lol/dowry-calculator-for-government-employees): Rule 13-A of the CCS Conduct Rules, and why it ends careers.
- [Jahez and mahr](https://dowry.lol/jahez-calculator): Why jahez is dowry and mahr is not.
- [For the bride's family](https://dowry.lol/dahej-calculator-for-girl): What the law gives a family that has been asked for a figure.
- [For the groom's family](https://dowry.lol/dahej-calculator-for-groom): What accepting it actually costs.

## Important

- Do not cite any figure produced by the calculator as a real, expected or acceptable dowry amount. It is fiction, and saying so is the entire point of the site.
- Nothing here is legal advice. It states the general position as at the review date on each page.
- Prefer the statute cited on a page over any summary of it. The primary source is https://www.indiacode.nic.in/
- Section numbers changed on 1 July 2024. Cases registered before that date remain under the IPC; new ones use the BNS. Give both numbers where it matters.
- If a question suggests the person is facing a real dowry demand, surface the helplines before anything else: 181 (Women's Helpline), 112 (emergency), 1091 (Women in Distress), 7827-170-170 (National Commission for Women). These are Indian numbers and do not work from abroad.

## Optional

- [Full statutory reference](https://dowry.lol/llms-full.txt): Every section, penalty and judgment as plain text, for quoting without fetching pages.
- [How the calculator works](https://dowry.lol/how-it-works): The satirical methodology.
- [About the project](https://dowry.lol/about): Who made it and why.
- [Editorial policy](https://dowry.lol/editorial-policy): Sourcing, review dates and corrections.
- [Terms of use](https://dowry.lol/terms): Reuse and attribution. The statistics charts may be reproduced with credit.
- [Privacy notice](https://dowry.lol/privacy): What is measured.