Agree. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with parents wanting to give wedding gifts to their daughters to help them get settled. But there’s a difference between a gift…and making a demand/imposing. The former is okay…the latter has no place in religion.
I remember writing a paper on dowry deaths…and reading in the research that it was a more a part of Hindu culture…and that some of the beliefs/superstitions were adapted by the Muslims. Not sure how true that is. But the idea behind it was that the groom’s parents believed that the bride would be an extra mouth to feed…and therefore they had the right to demand a dowry since they were the ones who would be taking care of her expenses.