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Women Who Kill Women, Rashmi Goel

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This Article examines more closely the participation of mothers-in-law in India’s dowry murders to gain a better understanding of these dynamics and to expose the limits of existing reforms. I first turn to the participation of women in dowry death cases and the ways in which their participation challenges our conventional understanding of patriarchy and societal manifestation. In Part II, I provide an overview of dowry deaths in India. In Part III, I survey the different criminal provisions related to dowry deaths and demonstrate how these laws actually operate within a set of cultural practices that support female subjugation. Part …