steotia
December 27th, 2007, 03:59 PM
"Empowering women is a noble goal but empowering women by victimizing men is gross injustice."
Technically, on paper, I am not an Indian Citizen but I suppose I will always remain Indian in heart and soul, and above all a proud Jat(ni). I am nevertheless concerned about issues that have an impact on Indian society. Since we Jats are a part of that society and this issue concerns us as well, I have started this thread. I would like to point out at the onset that I would appreciate seeing a serious debate instead of following the same track certain other threads have taken recently. So if you are not interested in this issue, please don’t waste your time (and other’s) by posting and/or replying to opinions that do not deal with this issue directly or indirectly.
“The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development’s proposal to set up a panel of lawyers to review the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (PWDVA), has become a cause of worry for women’s activists. They see the move as an effort to dilute the Act, passed in October, 2006. The New Delhi-based advocacy group, The Lawyers’ Collective (Women’s Rights Initiative), has started an e-campaign against the setting up of the panel and over 170 activists and groups have already signed e-petitions and sent it to the Ministry.”
Anyone who has been awake the last two decades knows how section 498A of IPC has been and can be misused, dragging innocent men and women into police stations, lock-ups and courts, thus ruining the lives and productive careers of the innocent and depriving many senior citizens of mental peace in the last leg of their lives.
Then came the Domestic Violence Act along the same lines of 498A, only with larger loopholes. Many women who really need protection from Domestic Violence will probably never know about it and even if they do, never use it. This law will be yet another weapon in the hands of unscrupulous women who will misuse it at the slightest opportunity.
The feminist organizations have been hailing this act and presenting it as empowerment of domestic abuse victims. However, there is no recourse for men who are victimized in their houses. The law lends itself to very easy misuse and is a gross violation of human rights of half the population. The fact is that due to this law, men will be emotionally, mentally and financially abused. As so delicately put by the concerned minister Ms. Renuka Chaudhary - "Its now men's turn to suffer".
In a society where men and women live together what affects one affects the other. When a man is thrown out of his own house under true or false allegations of domestic violence or cruelty everyone who is dependent on him is bound to suffer. That will include dependent parents and siblings who can be male or female.
Even men suffer in silence in India. Some of them even face physical violence. This section of the Indian population is completely missed by the radar either intentionally or because men are too embarrassed to admit their misery lest they be labelled as sissies who cannot fix problems in their homes. On the other hand many a men who belong to this category are facing threats or fighting false cases filed against them by their wives.
Domestic violence is committed by men AND women and it is not always directed against the opposite sex. This is even more true considering the wide range of areas covered by the Domestic Violence Act. Where do husbands harassed by wives seek retribution? Where do women harassed by their daughters-in-law or sisters-in-law seek protection?
The fact is that the Indian Domestic Violence law is a skewed law in which only a WOMAN can file a complaint against a MAN. If a man is a victim of domestic violence, he has no recourse under the law. Moreover, a man is legally obligated to pay ANY amount of money that the woman asks him, otherwise he can be jailed. Moreover, if he asks for a single penny from her, that is also considered domestic violence. The law allows any woman who has lived with any man, in a residence, to actually occupy the residence any time she wants by claiming domestic violence. So, a divorced wife or an old live-in partner whom a man has not seen in a decade can file domestic violence and can actually get to live in any residence that the couple might have lived in before.
Incredulous ? Insane ? That's exactly what this law is.
It is clear by the actions Ms. Renuka Chaudhary that her real agenda is to legally cripple and victimize men on behalf of radical feminists. She is vehemently opposed to making the law gender neutral. Her arguments have been the following - "If men have a problem, they should speak up" or "it is predominantly the woman who suffers". What confounds me is that if the law is made gender neutral, it does not take away ANY benefit from the real women victims of domestic abuse AND it provides help to male victims as well. The irony is that the Minister herself readily admits that the law will be misused. So, her solution? "What if this law is misused? Every law is misused". Bravo!! So, now the Govt. is actually encouraging the misuse of the law here!! When a well respected journalist asked her on national television, if innocent men should suffer before the law is amended, her reply was "Its not a bad idea. I pity men". Some more comments by Renuka Chaudhary - "If men behave, they have nothing to fear". But what if the men behave and the women misbehave? Today, in urban India, when a woman does not want to be in a marriage, she promptly files a dowry case along with the divorce and legally harasses and extorts money from the innocent husband and his family after they have been in jail for no crime of theirs. If a woman wants to walk out of a relationship, there is nothing to dissuade her from filing false cases and the lawyers actually encourage that.
There are three fundamental problems with the domestic violence law –
a) it is overwhelmingly gender biased in favour of women, b) the potential for misuse is astounding and c) the definition of domestic violence is too expansive.
There are degrees of domestic violence and not all conflicts in a relationship can be termed as domestic violence. This law trivializes the issue of domestic violence by including minor differences in its realm and by explicitly denying protection to half of the population.
The law in its current form is grossly inadequate to tackle the problem of domestic violence. It imposes a lot of responsibility on men, without giving them rights. On the other hand, it gives lots of rights to women without requiring them to be responsible. At the very minimum, it should be made gender neutral, offering protection to both men and women. Also, provisions for stringent punishments need to be incorporated into the law to prevent misuse. Moreover, the law needs to be made more practical by differentiating between various degrees of conflicts and by unambiguously defining what constitutes domestic violence.
The fact is domestic violence is a serious problem and a neutral and unprejudiced law is needed to protect the genuine victims of domestic violence, irrespective of gender. The perpetrators of domestic violence need to be appropriately punished and dealt with. At the same time, protection cannot be withheld from real victims for any reason whatsoever, least of all their gender. One can be certain that there is something sinister about a law, when it intimidates and instils fear in innocent people. When a person who has not committed any crime, begins to fear punishment under the provisions of a law, it is not a law anymore – it is state sponsored terrorism.
ANYONE WITH AN OPINION ON THIS?
Technically, on paper, I am not an Indian Citizen but I suppose I will always remain Indian in heart and soul, and above all a proud Jat(ni). I am nevertheless concerned about issues that have an impact on Indian society. Since we Jats are a part of that society and this issue concerns us as well, I have started this thread. I would like to point out at the onset that I would appreciate seeing a serious debate instead of following the same track certain other threads have taken recently. So if you are not interested in this issue, please don’t waste your time (and other’s) by posting and/or replying to opinions that do not deal with this issue directly or indirectly.
“The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development’s proposal to set up a panel of lawyers to review the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (PWDVA), has become a cause of worry for women’s activists. They see the move as an effort to dilute the Act, passed in October, 2006. The New Delhi-based advocacy group, The Lawyers’ Collective (Women’s Rights Initiative), has started an e-campaign against the setting up of the panel and over 170 activists and groups have already signed e-petitions and sent it to the Ministry.”
Anyone who has been awake the last two decades knows how section 498A of IPC has been and can be misused, dragging innocent men and women into police stations, lock-ups and courts, thus ruining the lives and productive careers of the innocent and depriving many senior citizens of mental peace in the last leg of their lives.
Then came the Domestic Violence Act along the same lines of 498A, only with larger loopholes. Many women who really need protection from Domestic Violence will probably never know about it and even if they do, never use it. This law will be yet another weapon in the hands of unscrupulous women who will misuse it at the slightest opportunity.
The feminist organizations have been hailing this act and presenting it as empowerment of domestic abuse victims. However, there is no recourse for men who are victimized in their houses. The law lends itself to very easy misuse and is a gross violation of human rights of half the population. The fact is that due to this law, men will be emotionally, mentally and financially abused. As so delicately put by the concerned minister Ms. Renuka Chaudhary - "Its now men's turn to suffer".
In a society where men and women live together what affects one affects the other. When a man is thrown out of his own house under true or false allegations of domestic violence or cruelty everyone who is dependent on him is bound to suffer. That will include dependent parents and siblings who can be male or female.
Even men suffer in silence in India. Some of them even face physical violence. This section of the Indian population is completely missed by the radar either intentionally or because men are too embarrassed to admit their misery lest they be labelled as sissies who cannot fix problems in their homes. On the other hand many a men who belong to this category are facing threats or fighting false cases filed against them by their wives.
Domestic violence is committed by men AND women and it is not always directed against the opposite sex. This is even more true considering the wide range of areas covered by the Domestic Violence Act. Where do husbands harassed by wives seek retribution? Where do women harassed by their daughters-in-law or sisters-in-law seek protection?
The fact is that the Indian Domestic Violence law is a skewed law in which only a WOMAN can file a complaint against a MAN. If a man is a victim of domestic violence, he has no recourse under the law. Moreover, a man is legally obligated to pay ANY amount of money that the woman asks him, otherwise he can be jailed. Moreover, if he asks for a single penny from her, that is also considered domestic violence. The law allows any woman who has lived with any man, in a residence, to actually occupy the residence any time she wants by claiming domestic violence. So, a divorced wife or an old live-in partner whom a man has not seen in a decade can file domestic violence and can actually get to live in any residence that the couple might have lived in before.
Incredulous ? Insane ? That's exactly what this law is.
It is clear by the actions Ms. Renuka Chaudhary that her real agenda is to legally cripple and victimize men on behalf of radical feminists. She is vehemently opposed to making the law gender neutral. Her arguments have been the following - "If men have a problem, they should speak up" or "it is predominantly the woman who suffers". What confounds me is that if the law is made gender neutral, it does not take away ANY benefit from the real women victims of domestic abuse AND it provides help to male victims as well. The irony is that the Minister herself readily admits that the law will be misused. So, her solution? "What if this law is misused? Every law is misused". Bravo!! So, now the Govt. is actually encouraging the misuse of the law here!! When a well respected journalist asked her on national television, if innocent men should suffer before the law is amended, her reply was "Its not a bad idea. I pity men". Some more comments by Renuka Chaudhary - "If men behave, they have nothing to fear". But what if the men behave and the women misbehave? Today, in urban India, when a woman does not want to be in a marriage, she promptly files a dowry case along with the divorce and legally harasses and extorts money from the innocent husband and his family after they have been in jail for no crime of theirs. If a woman wants to walk out of a relationship, there is nothing to dissuade her from filing false cases and the lawyers actually encourage that.
There are three fundamental problems with the domestic violence law –
a) it is overwhelmingly gender biased in favour of women, b) the potential for misuse is astounding and c) the definition of domestic violence is too expansive.
There are degrees of domestic violence and not all conflicts in a relationship can be termed as domestic violence. This law trivializes the issue of domestic violence by including minor differences in its realm and by explicitly denying protection to half of the population.
The law in its current form is grossly inadequate to tackle the problem of domestic violence. It imposes a lot of responsibility on men, without giving them rights. On the other hand, it gives lots of rights to women without requiring them to be responsible. At the very minimum, it should be made gender neutral, offering protection to both men and women. Also, provisions for stringent punishments need to be incorporated into the law to prevent misuse. Moreover, the law needs to be made more practical by differentiating between various degrees of conflicts and by unambiguously defining what constitutes domestic violence.
The fact is domestic violence is a serious problem and a neutral and unprejudiced law is needed to protect the genuine victims of domestic violence, irrespective of gender. The perpetrators of domestic violence need to be appropriately punished and dealt with. At the same time, protection cannot be withheld from real victims for any reason whatsoever, least of all their gender. One can be certain that there is something sinister about a law, when it intimidates and instils fear in innocent people. When a person who has not committed any crime, begins to fear punishment under the provisions of a law, it is not a law anymore – it is state sponsored terrorism.
ANYONE WITH AN OPINION ON THIS?