New Delhi, Nov. 29 -- The Supreme Court on Friday delivered a scathing denunciation of dowry-related cruelty, lamenting that the "pious bond of marriage has regrettably been reduced to a mere commercial transaction" and warning that the evil of dowry corrodes the sanctity of marriage while perpetuating systemic oppression and subjugation of women.

Coming down heavily on dowry demands and deaths, a bench of justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan stressed that a "firm and deterrent judicial response" is imperative to send an unequivocal message that neither law nor society will tolerate such barbarities. The bench cancelled the bail of a man accused of dowry death of his wife in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur district and ordered his immediate a...