'Promoting Dowry, Not Airbags': Govt Ad Featuring Akshay Kumar Rightly Slammed

The 'promotion' has over 9,26,000 views on Twitter alone, with people asking if the government is endorsing dowry.

The 'promotion' has over 9,26,000 views on Twitter alone, with several people asking if the government endorsed dowry.

(Photo Courtesy: NCRB)

The Union Road, Transport, and Highway ministry is facing rightful criticism for an advertisement which, in the name of promoting six airbags in a car, has actually ended up encouraging 'dowry culture'.

Just days before, the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, which was released on 29 August, showed 6,753 women losing their lives to dowry-related harassment in 2021. The same set of data, for 2020, revealed that 19 Indian women died due to dowry harassment every single day.

Why Is the Ad Problematic?

The advertisement, tweeted by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and featuring Akshay Kumar, shows a father sobbing at his daughter's 'bidaai'. Kumar, who plays a policeman in the advertisement, makes a comment that the couple is in a car that has "just two airbags."

The scene cuts to the couple walking out of the car, and the arrival of a new car. The groom is seen counting the number of airbags in the new car to six.

There are no signs of the groom's parents in the entire advertisement, or any explicit implication that the car was not a "gift" from the bride's parents – in other words "dowry."

"You should smile now that your daughter is safe," Kumar tells the bride's father, after the car has been changed.

'Does Govt Endorse This View?'

The advertisement is tone-deaf, especially since "dowry" is often veiled as "gifts" so that grooms and their families get away from the Dowry Prohibition Act, which came to force in 1961.

The 'promotion' has over 9,26,000 views on Twitter alone, with several people calling for it to be taken down, and questioning if the government endorsed the depiction in the advertisement.

"Is the government spending money to promote the safety aspect of a car or promoting the evil and criminal act of dowry through this ad," asked Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Twitter.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter Screengrab)

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter Screengrab)

Other also pointed out how the government is washing its hand of any responsibility, and instead putting the focus on top models of vehicles to avoid road accidents.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter Screengrab)

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter Screengrab)

Dowry Cases in The Last Month Alone

On 2 September, a woman was allegedly set ablaze in Delhi's Mandawali, by her husband and father-in-law, after they were 'denied' Rs Five lakh as dowry from her. She is critical and fighting for her life in a Delhi hospital.

A month earlier, on 3 August, 30-year-old Indian-origin woman Mandeep Kaur, a resident of New York, had died by suicide after repeated domestic abuse allegedly by her husband Ranjodhbeer Singh Sandhu for close to eight years. Kaur's family revealed how she was allegedly tortured for years, in demand for dowry.

A man, his sister, and his mother have also been arrested in connection with an alleged dowry harassment case after a 21-year-old woman was found dead outside her house in Shakurpur, Northwest Delhi, on 9 August.

These are just some cases in the last one month alone – a tip of the iceberg, if the NCRB data says anything.

As many people are pointing out on social media, should the taxpayers' money really be utilised to make an advertisement promoting dowry?