[qazpot]

India has had a long standing culture of torturing and burning because of dowry and female foeticide.

However, the judicial system instead of fixing the problem went ahead and created lopsided insane laws which are now being exploited.

[newyankee]

The issue is instead of helping the women that actually need these laws, they are mostly exploited by a small minority of urban, educated women to their own ends.

[scarmig]

Well, urban educated women need protections too.

The bitter pill to swallow is that there are people of all sexes and demographics who are shitty out there and whatever set of laws there is will be exploited by them for their own ends. Someone's inevitably going to get the short end of the stick, because the government actually isn't and can't be all knowing. (And nearly inevitably it's the disempowed who get the short end of the stick. Not because they're better than the powerful, but because the powerful are best positioned to take advantage of any social situation.)

[newyankee]

But all the laws are doing is allowing entrenched corrupt interests including the police, judiciary and few others to use them to their benefit. At least some reforms have been announced by Indian Supreme court, otherwise I doubt these one sided laws would be considered legal in any other democratic country. Surprisingly reading cases in any of the Global North makes me doubt that is the case.