Dowry: Old-Fashioned Romance or Just Plain Old-Fashioned?

Relating to three recent world news articles on dowries:

This article in September
This article in November
This article also in November of this year

The first article is from India and details the sad tale of a woman who was simply married for her dowry and nothing else. Now she is filing for dowry harassment. Apparently the man married the woman at the insistence of his parents, promising the woman that he would convert from Christianity to Hinduism and he also wore a wig at the time of the wedding, so that the woman did not know he was bald. At first, he did not demand the dowry, but now he insists on it.

The second is about a murder and kidnapping that came about because of dowry money. The crime, organized by the grandmother of two brothers, was brought about after the breakdown of the family in question's sister's marriage. The estranged brother-in-law had not paid the sister's dowry back, which was the reason for the entire crime.

The third is a montage about abandoned Indian wives, used for their dowries and basically neglected by their husbands.

Of course, all three of these examples are extremes of how arranged marriages can go awry (I've read many romance novels where arranged marriages end in a passionate, unending love, just to present an opposite view) and many arranged marriages are conducted in a respectful, non-murderous way. In addition, it could also be argued that divorce between non-arranged couples can be just as nasty as these examples.

However, the point of discussion here is the use of dowry. The price of a bride. When a bride is given to her husband, she comes with a certain amount of money, assets and/or property. If the marriage goes sour, the husband is to give those things back to his wife. Originally, this was meant as a precaution for the bride so that she would not be completely destitute if abandoned by her husband. Yet, in modern times, the precaution seems more problematic then helpful for the bride. Not to mention that the bride is essentially being sold for a price. Marriages themselves are hard enough, why add the element of greed on top of it all to complicate nuptials further?

Dowries, in my mind, seem obsolete and unnecessary--perpetuating instances like the ones in these articles. These days, a bride and groom can divide their money in a prenuptial agreement or split assets 50/50. Modern society, in India, the U.S. or elsewhere should not need a bargaining price to sell their brides.

More articles on dowries:
Campaign "Daughters Against Dowries" to be Launched
Indian Husbands Want Protection from Nagging Wives
Family Expels Bride for Paltry Dowry