Sunday, October 25, 2009

Press Release for Mumbai Press Conference


Press Release for Indian Family Foundation on 26th October 2009

Hum Kahan Bell Bajayen???

The Indian Family Foundation, Mumbai, is an initiative by victims of gender biased law. We intend to promote the cause of Gender Equality and Family Harmony, and take up the cause of grief-stricken families who are victimized by the misuse of laws like the Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA), Section 125 CrPC, Child Custody laws etc., to name just a few.

There is urgent need to replace and amend the PWDVA and such laws. What is wrong with the PWDVA and similar gender-based laws? The PWDVA was passed by legislature and came into force on 26th Oct 2006. While the name of the Act itself suggests noble intentions like protection and welfare of women, the act itself is hardly helpful to needy women. On the other hand there is plenty of evidence that it is being misused by unscrupulous women, which has led to complete hijack of the Indian Family System by external vested interests by the components of legal machinery.

No data has ever been provided to justify unconstitutional laws like PWDVA and the cruel, unusual procedures therein. PWDVA is reduced to a wife centric law rather than a woman centric law as it neglects domestic violence against the mother-in-law by the daughter-in-law and further it also neglects domestic violence against children, Sr. Citizens and male members of the family.

To prove the point, there have been plenty of cases where respondents have been a woman in the PWDVA. Thus nullifying the very protection i.e. intended for the woman.

Further, to widen the perspective of actual domestic violence atrocities on male that surpasses the statistics vs. women is simply ignored as inspite of several NGOs raising voices for protection of man and his family members have been turned on a blind eye and deaf ear. To prove our point we have the statistics of male suicides vs. female suicides.

The suicide rates of Indian men are consistently double of that of women, according to NCRB statistics. In 2007, over 56000 Married Men committed suicide compared to 30000 Married Women as published by National Crime Records Bureau. As per 2006 data, out of every 100 suicides there are 63 males and 37 females. Out of every 100 males 45 are married and out of every 100 females only 25 are married.

However due to lack of media attention on male suicides, the society fails to consider how emotional, economic, psychological, and physical violence affects and scars the men and boys in their homes. Men are expected to protect, provide for their families, and yet take it on the chin any form of emotional abuse without complaining.

We demand equality in real sense and thus we propose solutions that would create balance and remove the imbalance that is found in the family laws. We vehemently suggest formation of Ministry of Men’s Welfare as it would take care of the very originator and contributor of the Tax to the Government. And re-draft the acts and laws in a neutral perspective by replacing the word Wife to Spouse. We also propose a suo-moto punishment for all those involved in the misuse of the law that wastes the national time and money as it involves State machinery that ultimately fights a false case against the innocent Husbands.

We want the facility of recording complaints of the aggrieved Husbands and their family members as cognizable offences. Thus helps the system to understand the real picture through the statistics generated which otherwise as on date does not exist.

While we talk of gender equality the law should stop treating Husbands as ATM machines and rather encourage the woman to be self sustained.

Laws like 497 of adultery should be dealt with more sincerity and should be made gender neutral. For example, any woman who seduces a man into few instances of consensual sex can claim reliefs under PWDVA from him. She has same rights under this legislation as the wife of twenty years of a man.

The propaganda machinery of government, aid agencies, and women organisations are only focused on ‘violence’ against married women in their matrimonial homes. All men, children, and women relatives of husbands are completely ignored. This leads to lack of emotional, family, society, and legal/judicial support for men which lead to higher suicide rates among them.

The PWDVA violates the principles of natural justice and violates basic civil rights of the accused men, and increasingly accused women. Men are robbed of their communication channel and are subjected to unconstitutional processes just to satisfy the anger and ego of the complainant woman which is a violation of the fundamental rights granted under Articles 14 and 15 of the Indian Constitution. In most of the cases the complainant lady is fulfilling her illegitimate wishes legally.

It is a well-known fact from several studies that children that grow in a fatherless home have much higher chances of future crime, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, and emotional imbalance. But the proponents of PWDVA and such legislation unabashedly proclaim the right of a woman to take her children away from father's home and father's care. False and ridiculous allegations of child abuse and cruelty are routinely used in PWDVA applications to deny fathers any access to their children.

Remember domestic and social harmony will prevail only when women and men are ensured their equal, rightful and honorable place within and outside the home. In addition, when we ensure true gender equality under the law, litigations will be reduced, legal terrorism and extortion through misuse of the law will be eliminated and our human and financial resources can be employed for the betterment of the society and the country.

No comments: