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DOWRY SYSTEM- A DE FACTO ALIVE TRADITION OF INDIAN SOCIETY (By-Shakti Gayatri Panda)
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DOWRY SYSTEM- A DE FACTO ALIVE
TRADITION OF INDIAN SOCIETY
Authored By-Shakti Gayatri Panda. Advocate . B.Sc(Hon’s). LL.B.
Patna Civil Court , Bihar
Abstract
Any young man, who makes dowry a condition to marriage,
discredits his education and his country and
dishonors womanhood.
-Mahatma Gandhi
The act of giving and taking dowry
has been criminalized in India by enactment of the Dowry Prohibition Act 1961.
With this enactment, the system of dowry is abolished from Indian soil as per
language of law. In India, dowry giving and taking is a de jure offence.
But reality is entirely different. In de jure it is enlisted as an
offence , but in de facto everyday innumerable young girls are becoming
the poor prey of dowry demon. It seems impossible to find a marriage ceremony
which held without dowry. This demon has worn the mask of custom and tradition
to escape from arms of stringent laws. This so called tradition is a
humiliation or insult to dignity of women , which symbolizes women as burden.
Dowry is the product of gender discrimination , which enunciates that men are
superior than women. Dowry system shun
the existence of women. Dowry is the root cause of other evils like female
feticides, infanticides, dowry death, domestic violence etc. Earlier Indian
Government considered that strict
legislation would surely draw an end line to this obsolete, rotten custom. But
in spite of stringent laws, every day we come across infinite news of dowry
tortures and dowry deaths. We are
demonstrating ourselves as civilized and educated , but still our
medieval mindset has not been changed yet. Even high education also failed to
uproot this so called system. In realty
many highly educated people tends to demand huge dowry in lieu of their higher
degrees and high earning jobs.
When both education and stringent laws are
unable to combat with this demon , then who can combat? This is a big
question.
Keywords- Dowry , Section 304-B , dowry death
, mindset , gender discrimination, female infanticides , cruelty
Introduction
Dowry is a social evil in society
that has caused unimaginable tortures and crimes towards women and polluted the
Indian marital system[1].
Our Country India is the epicenter of dowry culture as this tradition has a
long standing history and considered as a mandatory custom which automatically
comes with the ceremony of marriage. This so called tradition is the product of
gender discrimination which violates a basic democratic norm of our
Constitution, which envisages the equal
standing of citizens. This barbaric practice is the main culprit behind female
feticides, female infanticides , denial of education to girl child and is a big
hurdle in achieving women empowerment. Earlier it was confined only to Hindu
religion, but now it is spreading like
an epidemic to other religions and communities also. With its adoption
across different communities across religions has led to a century old ceremony
turned into a social atrocity[2].
It is not wrong to mention that dowry custom is an extortion committed by
groom’s family upon bride’s family. With modernization, our outfit , way of
living , standard of life has undergone spectacular changes. But, there is
literally no changes in heinous practice of dowry system. It remained stagnant
throughout centuries. Even stringent laws are not success enough to uproot this
custom . Many ethical and unethical customs has been extinguished from our
society , but dowry custom has survived till now. The question is why this
uncivilized custom is succeed to occupy its place in a highly civilized society
? There are many reasons for existence of dowry custom. Let us have a look at
various causes of survival of putrefactive practice of dowry in Indian society.
What Is Dowry?
Before approaching towards causes of
dowry the first and foremost important
thing we have to understand is the meaning and object of dowry. If we
look for definition, then Indian Penal Code has not defined the term dowry.
But, Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 has defined dowry as any property or valuable
security given or agreed to be given directly or indirectly :
·
By
one party to a marriage to the other party to a marriage ; or
·
By
the parents of either party to a marriage or by any other person , to either party to the marriage or any
other person at or before or any time after(on three occasions) the marriage in
connection with the marriage of the said parties[3].
The idea behind introduction of the
dowry system with marriage ceremony was , to make sure
that the bride will be financially
stable after getting married. The intention was very clear. Parents of bride
used to give money, land, assets to the bride as a “gift” to make sure their
daughter will be happy and independent after marriage. It is surprising to note
that how the custom which had aimed at independence and comfort of women have
turned into a big misery for women. In India, dowries have transitioned from a
way of endowing daughters with economic safety
to a “groom price” - a transfer
of wealth from the bride’s parents to the groom or his family, with the bride
having limited rights over it( Srinivas 1984, Anderson and Binder 2015)[4]. It’s a matter of remorse that the gift upon
which the bride had exclusive rights became demands of groom family and
consequently non fulfilment of dowry
made the life of a girl worse than hell.
Causes Of Dowry System
It is very tough to find any single
reason behind prevalence of dowry system. A number of factors contributes
towards the survival of dowry system.
1. Greediness:-
Greediness is the root cause of dowry
system. With the birth of a baby boy, the greediness for dowry conceived in the
minds of parents. Although our tradition always symbolized the birth of a girl as arrival of Goddess Lakhmi
, but society always observe birth of a boy as a source of joy and future
richness. Dowry system rests on the
principle of unjust enrichment. For accepting a girl as wife of groom and
daughter-in-law of the family, the groom’s family demands sumptuous articles
and huge amounts of money. For them marriage is not a ceremony or sanskar as
mentioned in Veda , but a means of extortion. It seems like a compensation for
accepting a girl as putravadhu of their family.
It would be completely wrong to
accuse groom’s family alone for survival of dowry custom. Many times it has
been seen that bride’s family are eager to buy
highly educated , well serviced guy for their girls by paying spacious
amount of money. In our society some girls parents are present who tried to buy efficient grooms by money. They are
also catalyst in social stigma of dowry system. This kind of practice by family
members of girls encourages the nasty dowry system to survive .
2. Social status of women as inferior in
Indian society.
One of the undeniable causes of dowry
system is gender discrimination. Dowry system is largely the manifestation of
the patriarchal nature of Indian society where men are considered superior to
women in aspects of physical as well as mental capabilities[5].
With the backdrop of such lousy societal structure , most often women are
considered as valueless beings , who are supposed to confine within household
chores. Our society often provide second class treatment to women. Many times
it has been seen that they are denied access to education and jobs. Dowry is
considered as the price for giving birth to a girl , which every father of girl
child is compelled to pay to the groom at the time of her marriage. This social
status of women as a burden is so deep
rooted in the veins of society that even women themselves accept this view
without any hesitation and teach same to their progeny.
Grooms family never paid respect to
status or dignity of a girl. They considered their boy as valuable and precious , while at the same
time they considered girl as inferior who will reduced to a maid after
marriage. On the other hand family of girl also considered the girl as a burden for their life. The birth of a girl is
considered as a matter of sorrow. Since birth of a girl, the parents starts
saving money for her marriage and dowry. Recently researchers have find that
dowry is a major contributor to India’s gender imbalance. It perceived by the
whole society that one day she will
depart with hard earned wealth of her father to her in laws. This concept
encouraged the practice of female feticides and infanticides.
3. Illiteracy
Earlier it was thought that
illiteracy is one of the cause of survival of dowry custom. But at present
century, where literacy rate has reached
74.04 %[6], this
theory seems quite wrong. This theory is not absolutely correct as many highly
educated persons are demanding more dowry in lieu of their higher degrees and
expenses for education. They are utilizing property of bride family as a reimbursement for their study expenses.
Actually , we are considering those people as educated who have degrees. But,
the real educated persons are those who are educated with moral values, who
recognizes the dignity of women and respect women. So, high literacy rate is
not going to bring any spectacular change , unless people themselves equipped
with moral values and able to differentiate between tradition and extraction.
It is not wrong to say that we are living in a world which is nuclear giant and moral infant.
4. Poverty
Some section of people demand dowry
by making excuses of their poverty. These belong to the category of people who
seek to enjoy their life lavishly with the money of bride. Groom and his family
considered it as their right. In middle class family dowry torture and dowry
death rate is high. But, at present this
disease of dowry also prevalent in wealthy family. This vice has not spared any
section of people. “All sections of society have fallen prey to the evil of
dowry, including those financially sound”, a Delhi court has observed while
holding a man and his family guilty of
torturing his 23 years old wife to death for not fulfilling dowry demands[7].
5. Obedience towards customs
Most of Indians are reluctant to give
up deep rooted custom by citing it as dharma. Most of times, the unethical
traditions are observed without considering its spirit and effects. But what I
feel that, this obedience to tradition is not true hearted. Because, if people
are so enthusiastic to follow the tradition or custom , then they would never
treat women as commodities. Our custom enunciates that “yatra naryastu
pujyante ramante tatra devata” . which means where women are honored ,
divinity blossoms there and where women are dishonored, all action no matter
how noble remain unfruitful. Actually it s not about obedience or adherence to
custom, it is only about evil mind. People used to follow the customs
discriminately . The concept of dowry that propounded in our culture never
permits atrocity against women for the sake of dowry. But no one have paid heed
to this true spirit of our culture.
6. Sick mentality of show off
In present society, dowry has been
treated as a yardstick in measurement of one’s reputation. Many parents of
girls dreamt of organizing the marriage of their girls so lavishly with eye
catching dowries to enhance their reputation in the society. The boy’s family
also show off by stating the price of their boy in the market of marriage with
respect to education and job profile of the boy. The amount of dowry is indicator
of price
of boy. This behavior or urges to show off is a sick mentality,
resulting in increasing the greediness on part of grooms family, who tried to
squeeze the wealth of brides family in the name of prestige and reputation.
7. Poor implementation of dowry laws
Undoubtedly Indian Government has
taken historical step by criminalizing dowry system. With this enactment,
century old custom of dowry reduced to
an offence. But improper or poor
implementation of laws have made the enactment useless. The law however
stringent may be, but it will remain futile
if, no one will come to implement it. The duty of Government is not
limited to enactment of Special Acts. It is also duty of Government to make
aware people about the provisions , which will reduce the rate of crime in
society.
8. Lack of awareness among people
In our society there are so many
people who are unaware of the fact that giving and taking dowry is an offence.
Yes, after six decades of enactment of the Act, people are still unaware about
the provisions of dowry law. Due to lack of awareness, they failed to take
shelter of the provisions in case of event of dowry atrocity. Government has
made rigorous laws, but there is lack of endeavor on part of Government to
create mass awareness about the provisions.
Why Abolition Of Dowry Is Indispensable In Current Situation
?
The consequences of dowry custom is
horrible. Existence of dowry custom is detrimental to dignity and honor of
women. Lets discuss why abolition of dowry has became sine qua non in
present scenario.
1. Domestic violence and incidents of dowry death
The primary cause of domestic
violence against women is due to non fulfillment of demands of dowry. The groom and his family always considered
the bride’s family as a never ending source of money. They demands valuables in
every fair and festivals. Non fulfillment leads to physical and mental atrocity
against bride. The various forms of dowry tortures are brutal beating, hitting
, slapping , throwing out of matrimonial house , insulting in front of others ,
not giving foods and other requisites , keeping extra-marital affairs. By giving multifarious cruelty when, they
failed to extract money from her family, they approached the extremeness of
cruelty by pouring kerosene and set fire in order to burn the innocent young
women alive. This is the most melancholic and heartbreaking consequence of dowry system.
In some cases they do not kill by themselves ,
but abets the bride to commit suicide. Continuous physical and mental torture instigates women to go into
depression and commit suicide. It is a misnomer to state that the bride commits
suicide. Because it is a murder of bride committed by her in laws. The cases of
dowry death is increasing at an alarming rate in India. More than 8000 women
die as a result of India’s dowry system each year. As per NCRB report, 19 women
were killed for dowry everyday in 2020.
2. Female feticides and infanticides
Although the demand of dowry arises at the time of
marriage, but its effect starts from the time of development of a female fetus in the womb. A
girl child is considered as a burden on the economy of family. So, people try to avoid from becoming parents of
a girl child, which encourages them to commit inhumane offences like female
feticides and infanticides. With the hike in price of gold, there is also surge
of missing of female infants after birth. Nearly 45.8 million females are
missing in Indian demography in the year 2020. Mainly due to pre and post-birth
sex selection practices stemming from son preference and gender inequality , a
recently released United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report has said[8].
3. Higher rates of gender disparity
India has ranked extremely low- at
135th place out of 146 countries- in terms of gender parity, on the
Annual Gender Gap Report 2022 of the World Economic Forum (WEF) released in
Geneva on 13th July 2022[9]. The idea of paying heavy dowry in order to
get a girl married has increased sense of inequality among the genders, placing
men superior to women[10].
The custom of dowry plays an important role in maintaining gender disparity. As
the parents have to pay dowries for their daughters , they neglect them in every opportunity as compared to sons. Son
and daughter never get equal treatment in home. Daughters always looked down as
a burden upon parents.
Surprisingly people are encouraging
dowry by citing it as custom , but ignored the custom of respecting the dignity
of women. Girls have been termed as “duhita” , which implies that she is lucky
for both the family i.e. her parents and matrimonial. The matter of regret is
that a girl never get respect from either family.
Her parents always mentioned her as
“others property” that one day she will depart with her husband and on the
contrary, her in laws taunts her as she is “outsider”. In such situation the
whole society treats women as second class gender.
4. Denial of education to girls
Expenditure for education of girls is
looked as a wastage. Families also view education expenditure for a girl as a
waste of money because this investment will not be reimbursed in future as she
is termed as “paraya dhan or others property”. So, it will only drain the
economy of family as they have to pay dowry at the time of marriage. That’s why
most of times girl child is refrained from going to school. Along with this, it
always perceived that women are born for household chores, so often parents
give training to their girls for the same. The society has made despicable
restriction upon girls to confine them within domestic shores.
5. Barring women from stepping into
employment industry
One will get employment only when
he/she is well educated and trained. Some women from non progressive mindset
family could not get employment due to poor education, as their parents
preferred them not to study formal education. Although middle class and upper
middle class families impart education to their daughters by sending them to
schools and colleges, but still they are reluctant to emphasize on career options for them. Due to
doctrine of coverture, women are considered inferior than men and dependent
upon men, so often families tried to keep women far away from employment industries. Due to this
practice the contribution of women in employment industries is much lower than
men, which in turn unhealthy for economy of our country.
How To Abolish
Dowry System From
Our Society ?
Dowry system persists in Indian
society not due to fault of legislature , but due to faulty mindset of general public. Indian Government has
declared it an offence, but still people
are practicing it by citing it as tradition. It must be noted that this is
truly not a case of adherence to tradition. It is a corrupt mind which
justifies unjust enrichment. It is an evil which defends torture and unethical
deeds. It is an atrocity against women which is responsible for taking numerous
lives of innocent married women. Nothing is a good custom, which is
opposed to public policy and unethical.
It is completely wrong to keep alive a tradition which creates gender discrimination
in the society.
Dowry is the genesis of smudgy
mindset. This is not a disease of organ that any surgery can cure it. This is a
disease of mind. That’s why stringent law also failed to eradicate it. The
mindset has to be changed. This is the only
key to annihilation of the practice of dowry from Indian society.
Special efforts are to be made by every institution to motivate people to act
for the effective implementation of legislative measure to combat the menace
of century old dowry system from our
society[11].
Undoubtedly dowries are
widespread and oppressive- but that does not mean the practice is so entrenched
that it can not be dismantled. Lets discuss about some measures which can be
effective in eradication of dowry culture.
1. Gender equality
The primary cause of dowry is gender
discrimination and unequal treatment between both sexes. We will not get rid of
this practice until we achieve gender equality. The plight of the girl child
initiated with her birth due to this particular infrastructure and continues to
hamper her peace of mind and tranquility[12].
Girls should not be looked down as burden. They must be treated alike boys.
They must be given access to education. They should not be prevented from
getting education. In our society, many times it has been seen that parents prevent their daughters from getting
education by citing it as unnecessary. They save money for their daughters
marriage, not for education. This mindset has to be changed. It has to be noted
that it is not about the incapability of girls , it is only about the chances
which has been denied to girls. In the words of Swami Vivekananda
“There is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of woman
is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on only one wing. There is no
hope for that family or country where there is no estimation of women, where
they live in sadness. For this reason, they have to be raised first.”
Hence, equal treatment of both
genders is indispensable in building dowry free society and nation.
2. Transformation of mindset
Our society require a major
transformation of its sludgy mindset in order to cease the practice of dowry.
Society is made of people like us. We all are part of this society. If some
people would come forward with a promise to eradicate the practice of dowry,
then this will definitely bring a change. Mindset of girls , boy and their
parents need to be changed. Medieval mindset which propounds women as an object
or commodity requires to be changed.
People must understand
that women are not weak. Women are
originator of new life. They deserve respect, not violence.
3. Education and self-reliance of women
The best form of dowry which the
parents can give to their daughters is education. It is imperative for all of
us to emphasize on educating girls. Education is a powerful weapon. By
acquiring knowledge about their rights, these young girl would become the most
important soldiers in the battle against dowry. Education will pave a way for
them to engage in employment industry. In this way they will not depend upon
any one and will become self-reliant. Education would give them a wider view ,
so that they will not consider marriage as only purpose of their life or as
salvation. If they will acquire high education, then they will not consider
themselves as inferior and they will speak against all those nefarious customs
which is made with a view to shun the dignity of women. They themselves will
fight against dowry custom. They will
themselves strive for eradication of anti-women customs.
4. Active participation of social media
Media is the propagator of knowledge
and the janitor of information exchange[13].
In current century social media is playing an important role in revolution. By
using social media we can create awareness among people about legal provisions prevalent
against dowry. Now-a-days most of people are using social media platforms. So,
social media would be proved as the best platform in creating awareness among
people. Most users fall within age range of 18-55. They are main strength of
our society. If they will take a vow to eradicate dowry from our society, then
definitely the custom of dowry will very soon removed from the list of rituals
of marriage ceremony. We can organize
online seminar regarding this topic to educate young boys and girls and
encourage them to pledge against dowry system.
5. Role of voluntary organization and
NGOs
The role of voluntary organizations
and NGOs are significant in this regard. Wholehearted contribution is needed
from various social and voluntary organization. They should approach every
sections of society and every corners of society. Their role is manifold. They can help in
preventing this evil and help the victim to get justice.
They should visit villages and urbans
and aware people about provisions of law. They should campaign against dowry by
citing its consequences. They should help the victims of dowry harassment in getting justice. This kind of contribution
of various voluntary organization and NGOs would surely bring reformation in
society.
6. Role of youth
When we speak about abolishment of
dowry custom , the only ray of hope is youth, the young generation. Youths have
that potentials and energy which can surely succeed in dismantling this age old
foul custom. When I mention the word “youth” , it means I refer to both young
men and women. Endeavour is required from both sexes to uproot this deep rooted
custom. Young women should pledge to refuse to
marry those boys who put dowry as a condition for marriage. Young ladies
should boycott dowry greedy boys.
An eye watching example is, a Patna
girl rejects greedy groom after his family asked for extra dowry. In April 2017[14], a
marriage was called off in Patna, Bihar ,after a bride refused to marry a man. The news thread states that the
tilak ceremony was delayed after bride’s family tried to convince the groom’s
family not to ask for additional dowry. Girl’s family told them about their paucity but it all fell
on deaf ears. When the girl came to know, she called her family telling them
her new decision to reject the “greedy” groom. The wedding was soon called off.
This is really a very brave and appreciable decision. Other girls
should take inspiration from this girl. Even the Police force also hailed
the girl for taking such a bold decision. The then lady Inspector also praised
the girl by stating that the girl is a dowry in itself. The society will have
to change its outlook about dowry[15].
The young men must refuse to be sold
and they should choose their partners in a fair manner. They have to remember
that amount of dowry is not the parameter of their efficiency. Their efficiency
and level of education reflected in their attitude towards women.
7. Role of law students
I feel that law students and lawyers
are appropriate persons who can efficiently contribute towards the mission of
abolition of dowry custom. The rationale is that they are well versed with
various Constitutional and legal provisions. They can make understand people
about their rights and existing legal provisions against dowry. They can
explain people by relating it with all the
provisions of Constitution , Penal
laws, Special laws and various case laws and precedents. I think the
participation of law students and lawyers would surely help in accomplishment
of the mission of abolishment of dowry
system.
Legal Provisions Aimed At Curbing The Menace Of Dowry
Lets have a look at various legal
provisions which have been made to curb the menace of dowry.
1) Section.304 B IPC:-
Owing to innumerable cases of
unnatural death of brides in 80s in our country, a new section i.e. Section.304
B was inserted in the Indian Penal Code in 1986, which deals with dowry death.
The object of this section is to curb the growing atrocities against young
women, who are dying due to failure to pay the demanded dowry.
Essential
ingredients of Section.304 B IPC
a. Unnatural death of a woman
b. Women must die within seven years of
her marriage
c. Cruelty by the husband or any
relative of her husband
d. Demand for dowry
e. Cruelty or harassment soon before her
death
Punishment
for dowry death
The minimum punishment is- 7 years of imprisonment &
The maximum punishment - imprisonment for life
2) Section. 498 A IPC :-
Cruelty to a wife by the husband or
his relative is an offence under Section 498 A and this section imposes punishment on husband or
his relatives. Section 498 A was introduced in the year 1983 to prevent cruelty
to a woman by the husband and his relatives.
Section 498 A enunciates that
Whoever being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subject
such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment up to 3 years and
also liable to fine[16].
Cruelty means any willful conduct,
which likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life,
limb, or mental or physical health of the woman or
harassment of the woman or her
relative to meet unlawful demand for any property or valuable security .The
cruelty of husband and his relatives on the wife is called ‘matrimonial
cruelty’[17].
3) Section 113 A of the Indian Evidence
Act, 1872
When the question is whether the
commission of suicide by a woman had been abetted by her husband or any
relative of her husband and it is shown that she had committed suicide within 7
years from the date of marriage and that her husband or such relative of her
husband had subjected her to cruelty, the Court may presume, having regard to all the other circumstances
of the case, that such suicide had been abetted by her husband or by such
relative of her husband.
Section 113 B speaks about
presumption as to dowry death. It reads as follow- When the question is
whether a person has committed the dowry death of a woman and it is shown that
the woman had been subjected by such person to cruelty or harassment for , or
in connection with, any demand for dowry, the Court shall presume that such person had caused the dowry death[18].
It has to be remembered that such crimes are
generally committed within four walls of home and in secrecy. In such cases
independent and direct evidence is not easy to get. This is the reason why the
Legislature has by introducing Sections
113 A and 113 B in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 tried to strengthen the
prosecution’s hand by permitting a presumption.
5) The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961
Under the Dowry Prohibition Act,
dowry is declared as illegal. The outstanding provision of this Act is that, it
has not only made taking of dowry as an offence, but also giving dowry is enlisted as an offence and punishable by law.
The punishment for violating anti-dowry law is imprisonment for not less than
5 years and a fine of Rs.15,000 or the
value of dowry given, whichever is more[19].
In spite of these legal
provisions, it is rarely reported as crime. According to the NCRB report[20],
in a country with nearly 10 millions weddings a year, less than 10,000 cases of
dowry were reported in 2015. Actually dowry incident gets reported only when
the torture of groom family upon bride exceeds its limit and became unbearable
for the bride.
Way Forward
Men and women both are two wheels of
vehicle of life. Without one wheel the vehicle cannot run. Similarly, women are
imperative part of our society, without them the society would succumb. The
crucial point is that although some progress has been made, the basic attitude
of Indian society towards women has not been changed yet, which is reflected in
practicing such immoral custom. Dowry, as practiced in current times, has
assumed the form of a social menace, as a barbaric practice against woman and
her dignity and as a liability to the parents of girl leading to such
consequences as female feticides and infanticides[21].
For eradicating dowry from our society , co-operation from all sections of
society is inevitable. Country needs a
multipronged approach to tackle the inhumane practice of dowry[22].
Conscience of whole society is need to be aroused with regard to dowry evil. We
have to realize that dowry is a black spot on the bright face of our nation.
We, as the responsible citizens of India have to strive for the termination of
this evil practice so that we can make our society dowry free both in de
facto and in de jure.
Article Information
DOWRY SYSTEM- A DE FACTO ALIVE TRADITION OF INDIAN SOCIETY (By-Shakti Gayatri Panda)
Authors: Shakti Gayatri Panda
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Published 2022/08/22
- Volume 2
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- Abbreviation IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
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