As published on The Australian by Christine McGinn.
A young Indian woman whose family gave her husband a $140,000 dowry was locked in her house and beaten by the man she married on the promise of living in Australia.
She entered an arranged marriage in India in 2017 with the man in Australia who she thought held residency, before emigrating to join him.
But her husband’s abuse and dowry blackmail led to threats to send her home in shame, a Senate inquiry into dowry abuse heard in Melbourne on Friday.
Her family gave him $140,000 in dowry in the form of gold, jewellery and cash, as is customary in their culture.
But it wasn’t enough.
The 26-year-old accountant’s husband would lock her in the house while he went to work.
He even left her battered and bruised, before police had to intervene.
Naked photos of the new bride were shared in India by her parents-in-law, she said.
Her husband would lock her in the house while he went to work.
The man removed her from his visa application, exposing the woman to deportation.
“Going to India would be no less than a suicide for me. I do not know what the future brings. It would be shameful,” she told AAP.
“They should think of us as their wives. We are not a commodity, we cannot be converted in terms of money.”
She is one of hundreds exposed to dowry abuse which at its worst has cost women their lives.
At least two women have been killed in Australia, including one burnt to death in a car, in extreme cases cited during the public inquiry, an advocate says.
Australian permanent residency gives the groom important bargaining power with the bride’s family who are pressured to increase the value of their dowry, Australasian Centre for Human Rights and Health director Manjula O’Connor told reporters.
“If the bride does not bring enough dowry, she is seen to be getting a free ride into Australia on the shoulders of the groom,” Dr O’Connor said.
Federal Labor MP Julian Hill told reporters outside the hearing that selling the dream of Australian citizenship had become a “lucrative and abusive market”.
Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists president Kym Jenkins told the hearing education was the key to stamping out the practice.
Protections should be put in place, including a pre-departure safety pack to state dowry extortion is illegal in Australia, the hearing was told.
The inquiry continues with hearings scheduled across Australia.