“Acche din” for men? Not by a long shot!

“Acche din” for men? Not by a long shot!

By Uma Challa

When the news of BJP’s election victory broke last year, I was on vacation in the US, on a beach in Florida to be precise. I was just as excited about the end of dynastic politics as many of my fellow countrymen were. I wrote a congratulatory message to India on the sandy beach, and posted a note on Facebook about how thrilled I was to return to a “Modified” India. I knew “acche din” were going to be a reality for at least some people in at least some issues. I could imagine the beginnings of decolonization and the revitalization of neglected cultures and languages.

“What about the ongoing war against men and boys?”, I wondered. “Will the Saffron Government end it or will they intensify it in an attempt to outdo the previous regimes in their “pro-women” stance?”, I pondered. Considering BJP’s serious and seasoned feminists like Ms. Sushma Swaraj, Ms. Smrithi Irani and Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, who are all patriots enough to reject western-feminism, but share the same degree of misandry nevertheless, one could only guess whether “acche din” were in store for Indian males.

It would be useful to recall that back in December 2013, Ms. Irani, speaking at a leadership summit, said, “If a man is without malice, he has nothing to fear.” Her words resonate with those of Ms. Renuka Chaudhary, who, during her tenure as Minister for Women and Child Development (WCD), said, “If men behave, they have nothing to fear”. Anyone who has had a brush with the Indian “women-protection laws”, the law enforcement machinery and the judiciary knows what the above words mean. I took solace in the fact that none of the above mentioned card-carrying feminists were assigned to the Ministry of WCD in Modi’s Government.

Ms. Maneka Gandhi, the newly appointed Minister for WCD, remained very quiet and non-controversial with regards to her Ministerial affairs for over  a year. We do not know if, suddenly, like a bolt out of the blue, the pressure of her job description finally got to her, or the evil spirit that haunts her office possessed her. We do not know if she was overcome by a strong zeal to please or even outdo her predecessors and colleagues, or if she was indeed a misandrous closet-feminist who was waiting for the right moment to come out, but she finally spoke!

In a Facebook interaction with netizens, Ms. Gandhi declared that all violence is male-generated. Many Indian men’s rights activists (MRAs) were misled into believing that Ms. Gandhi was either ignorant of ground realities or that she was deliberately ignoring them. They tried to (in Arnab Goswami’s words) “throw statistics at” her and cited examples of violence by women on men and children. What these MRAs failed to understand is that according to Ms. Gandhi’s well-considered opinion, men are either abusive or they do stuff to deserve abuse against them, and by that impeccable logic, all violence is male-generated.

Ms. Gandhi, no doubt, made her mark and proved her worth by reasserting the Ministry’s eternal commitment to war against men. What really sets her apart, though, is the elegance with which she overtly declared state-sponsored war against boys through an upcoming initiative called ‘Gender Champions’. Under this initiative, boys who can train themselves to become doormats and punching bags early on will be rewarded with prizes, just as the girls who walk over them and punch them would be awarded titles for their “bravery” and “attitude”.

Just in case we might miss the point, Ms. Gandhi went a little further and stated that according to her, “education should be more gender sensitive and certainly animal sensitive”. This statement actually gets to the bottom of the ideology that drives the Ministry of WCD – that boys and men do not even deserve the empathy that animals do and that all males are dispensable. No democratically elected representative of India, not even the formidable ex-Minister of WCD, Ms. Renuka Chaudhary, was able to state it in such clear terms.

I cannot help recalling another speech by Ms. Irani, from late last year, in which she stated, “When women are put at the helm of affairs, conflict has this very unnatural way of decreasing”. She also said, “A leader is someone who takes you where you want to be, but a female leader is someone who takes you where you ought to be.”

So, here we are!

No prizes for guessing where we are going!

Celebrating the defeat of family-breaker, Renuka Chaudhary

All India Forgotten Women (Regd.)

Press Release

Sub: Celebrating the defeat of family-breaker, Renuka Chaudhary.

All India Forgotten Women (Regd.) celebrates the defeat of family-breaker, ex-Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt. Renuka Chaudhary, in the 2009 Lok Sabha Elections.

Smt. Renuka Chaudhary’s term as Minister of Women and Child Development witnessed the arrest and ruthless incarceration of thousands of innocent men, along with women, senior citizens and children. In the last four years alone, 1,23,439 women have been unfairly arrested under IPC section 498A, without evidence or investigation. Smt. Renuka Chaudhary blatantly denied misuse of IPC Section 498A and turned down all requests, recommendations and demands from various quarters to review the law. It was not until the Minister for Human Resources Development, Arjun Singh, was accused of dowry harassment that Smt. Renuka Chaudhary finally acknowledged the misuse of anti-dowry laws in public. Nevertheless, law-abiding citizens continue to be summarily arrested on false charges of dowry harassment every day.

Smt. Renuka Chaudhary got the infamous Domestic Violence Act passed during her tenure without any debate or discussion on its relevance or pros and cons to the Indian society prior to its enactment. She promoted the DV Act as one of the most progressive legislations passed to empower women in India and to protect them from domestic abuse. In reality, the DV Act is a socially harmful legislation that facilitates violence against men, violates basic human rights of men, women and children, and promotes family destruction.

When questioned on National TV about misuse of women-protection laws, Smt. Renuka Chaudhary blatantly said, “it is men’s turn to suffer”. When Karan Thapar asked her in an interview if she thought that men should first suffer before she considers amendments to check misuse of the law she replied, ““It is not such a bad idea, except that I have such pity for men.” In another instance, she publicly urged women to trust condoms and not their husbands. These are just a few instances which betray Smt. Renuka Chaudhary’s hatred of men.

It is not as if Smt. Renuka Chaudhary’s Ministry has done much good for children either. Child abuse, child labour and malnutrition among children are as rampant as ever. Disregarding recommendations of HRD and Finance Ministries, Smt. Renuka Chaudhary pushed for distributing pre-packaged food instead of freshly cooked hot meals to malnourished children under the Integrated Child Development Scheme. When she was requested to take immediate action on the issue of sexual and physical abuse of several little girls at an orphanage in Ghaziabad, she replied, “We can’t react like Hindi movies and just rush. Inquiries are going on.” Passing the buck on the issue of victims of child labour and physical abuse she said, “The law is there but I can’t do anything in that case. Please ask the labour minister.”

It is a shame that a gender extremist like Smt. Renuka Chaudhary, who has no empathy for the plight of children, was appointed as the Minister of Women and Child Development.

All India Forgotten Women (Regd.) considers the defeat of Smt. Renuka Chaudhary as the beginning of the end of anti-male, anti-family gender extremism in India. AIFW demands that the incoming Government makes the following changes:
·    Ministry of Women’s Welfare should be separated from Ministry of Child Welfare.
·    Responsible, balanced and pro-family women should be appointed to head Ministry of Women’s Development and National Commission for Women.

MEMORANDUM – International Women’s Day 2009

For Press Release click here!

International Women’s Day 2009

MEMORANDUM

All India Forgotten Women (Regd.) & Mothers and Sisters Initiative (Regd.)

Subject: End gender-discrimination, legal terrorism and human rights violations in the name of women’s empowerment

In the year 1910, Clara Zetkin, a German women’s rights advocate, proposed that “every year, in every country, there should be a celebration on the same day – a Women’s Day – to press for their demands”.

This year, in order to press for our demands that have been ignored and brushed aside by mainstream women’s organizations, lawmakers and our elected representatives, we, the members of All India Forgotten Women (AIFW) and Mothers and Sisters Initiative (MASI), are organizing a Dharna on the occasion of International Women’s Day, 8 March 2009, in front of the office of the National Commission for Women between 10:00 am and 1:30 pm.

The recent Mangalore pub incident has evoked a unanimous response from members of all political parties and elected representatives who stated that “assaulting women is against our culture”. While such a unanimous stand across party lines is admirable, we fail to understand why only an attack on a pub has prompted our leaders to respond so strongly on assaults against women. We also wonder why only women? Is it in line with our culture to assault men, children and the elderly?

In the last four years, over 1,23,497 women have been arrested under IPC Section 498A alone, without evidence or investigation, not for committing any crime under law, but only because they were related to a man. Noted women’s rights activist Madhu Kishwar acknowledged that IPC Section 498A is heavily misused, and that a significant proportion of individuals who approach “Manushi” these days are mothers-in-law and husbands who are falsely accused of marital cruelty and dowry harassment. Renowned IPS officer Kiran Bedi admitted that many poor and illiterate mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, who are falsely charged under anti-dowry laws, are languishing in prison every year.

    Is it in line with India’s culture to penalize innocent women under false cases?

Every year, close to 4,000 innocent senior citizens are arrested (i.e. one innocent elderly person every 2.5 hours) under IPC Section 498A. Many retired elders have been ill-treated, thrown out of their own homes and deprived of their meagre means of sustenance by greedy or vengeful daughters-in-law. Senior citizens are further harassed through false cases of domestic abuse and dowry harassment and denied mental peace during the last leg of their lives. More and more elderly parents are unable to depend on their sons for the fear of false dowry harassment cases by resentful daughters-in-law. The World Health Organization, in its report on India cited IPC Section 498A as one of the major reasons for the “Increasing Abuse of the Elderly in India”.

    Is it in line with India’s culture to abuse the elderly?

Recent data from the National Crime Records Bureau indicates that nearly twice as many married men, compared to married women, commit suicide every year, unable to withstand verbal, emotional, economic and physical abuse and legal harassment. While every death of a young married woman is converted into a case of dowry death, leading to immediate arrest of the husband and in-laws, large-scale suicides of men are completely ignored by the Government. No Ministry has been set up to support our sons and brothers. No laws have been passed to protect them from abuse.

    Is it in line with India’s culture to cause incurable heartache to mothers and sisters by sacrificing their sons and brothers to domestic abuse and legal terrorism?

The Government allows disparaging of the Indian family as oppressive and Indian men as abusive, and portrayal of the streets as far safer for women than their own homes.  Having failed to provide the security promised to women outside the home, the Government gives in to the pressures of radical women leaders and passes draconian, irrational laws that cause more harm than good to citizens. Notwithstanding the fact that men and women are equally vulnerable to violence committed by members of either sex, the Government is sending out false messages that crime against women is gender-driven, thus, pitting women against men in the society.

    Is it in line with India’s culture to ruin interpersonal relationships between men and women by inciting a gender war?

The Indian Government introduced the Domestic Violence (DV) Act which allows a daughter-in-law to evict her mother-in-law out of her own property and render her homeless. Through this Act, the Government empowers a wife to violate marital norms with impunity and also claim residence and maintenance rights in spite of being unfaithful to the husband. Through this Act, the Government also grants live-in partners and concubines the same legal status as a legally wedded wife. Consequently, the protections and privileges, granted to a live-in-partner or concubine through the DV Act violate the rights of a legally wedded wife and dependent female members of a man’s family.

    Is it in line with India’s culture to empower morally bankrupt women at the expense of responsible, family-loving women?

Through its anti-male Family Law and the DV Act, the Government allows children to be mercilessly torn away from fathers in cases of marital separation or divorce. Through the DV Act, the Government allows for the passing of ex-parte orders to take away the custody of a child from the father without a just and fair enquiry into the suitability of guardianship by either or both parents. The DV Act includes provisions for the passing of restraining orders that eliminate all contact between a father and child, only based on the self-serving statements of a vindictive wife. The Government is thus violating a child’s right to the love and affection of both parents.

    Is it in line with India’s culture to destroy family harmony and create a fatherless society?

The Government has been focusing on more and more rights and privileges, disregarding how many existing rights, opportunities and privileges are poorly utilized and even quite often misused by women.  It is granting rights and privileges to women without prescribing any concomitant duties or responsibilities towards the family and society. It is granting rights and privileges to women by assaulting children, men and even fellow women.

Consequently, today, there are more women who are separated or divorced. There are more women indulging in illicit relationships. There are more unwanted pregnancies. There are more women raising fatherless children. There are more literate but uneducated and morally bankrupt women, who are living parasitic lives by siphoning money away from an estranged husband or partner. There are more women who abuse laws to destroy families and the society, as they themselves self-destruct.

    Is it in line with India’s culture to protect the interests of unscrupulous women, while the rest of the society pays the price?

We, the members of All India Forgotten Women (AIFW) and Mothers and Sisters Initiative (MASI), are working towards promoting family harmony and true gender equality, with the goals of maintaining social stability and nurturing responsible citizens in the country. We strongly condemn all the above-mentioned assaults on the human rights and constitutional rights of men, women, children, senior citizens and families.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2009, we make the following demands to the Government of India:
•    We demand immediate implementation of CrPC Amendments 2008 to protect us and our dear ones from legal terrorism and human rights violations.
•    We demand equal protection to men and women under law.
•    We demand laws and policies that promote family harmony.
•    We demand severe penalty for anyone misusing legal provisions to settle personal scores.
•    We demand that balanced, responsible, family-loving women are given charge of the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the National Commission for Women.
•    We demand a Ministry for Men to cater to the needs and welfare of our brothers and sons.

We request you to take our concerns into serious consideration and concede to our demands which are very much in line with the humane culture of India. We urge you to strongly oppose any form of assault on any citizen of India irrespective of their gender, language, religion, caste or class.

Sincerely,

All India Forgotten Women (Regd.). Plot # 171, Kalyan Nagar – III, Hyderabad – 500018.       Ph: 9704683163.

Mothers and Sisters Initiative (Regd.). C-5/8, Mangala Apt. 53, I.P. Extension, Delhi – 110092. Ph: 9810452017.

Copy to:

Her Excellency. Smt. Pratibha Patil, President of India
Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India
Shri. Hansraj Bharadwaj, Ministry of Law & Justice
Shri. P Chidambaram, Ministry of Home Affairs
Member Secretary, Law Commission of India
Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson of UPA
Shri. L. K. Adavani, Leader of Opposition in Parliament
Smt. Renuka Chaudhary, Ministry of Women and Child Development
Kum. Girija Vyas, Chairperson of the National Commission for Women

Press Release on Women’s Equality, 26th August 2008

Press Release on Women’s Equality, 26th August 2008
by
Mothers and Sisters Initiative (MASI) and All India Forgotten Women (AIFW)

Women’s empowerment and gender equality are two of the oft-repeated phrases today. It is sad enough that there are many who take great pride in wearing these labels while remaining completely oblivious of their true import. What is worse is that radical women’s groups and vested interests have successfully subverted the real meaning and purpose of women’s empowerment and gender equality and are promoting discrimination, injustice and serious human rights abuses in the name of women’s rights.

On Women’s Equality Day, 26th August, 2008, members of Mothers and Sisters Initiative (MASI) and All India Forgotten Women (AIFW) highlight how various discriminatory laws claiming to empower and protect women are serving as weapons that promote family destruction and perpetrate large scale human rights abuses against men, women and children.

Data from the National Crime Records Bureau indicates that every year, over 1 lakh innocent persons (one innocent person every 5 minutes) are arrested under IPC Section 498A. Every year, close to 30,000 innocent women (one innocent woman every 20 minutes) and 4,000 innocent senior citizens (one innocent elderly person every 2.5 hours) are arrested under IPC Section 498A. Every year close to 350 children (one child per day) are arrested under IPC Section 498A.

Is allowing arrests of innocent citizens and treating them as “guilty until proven innocent” a measure to promote Women’s Equality?

At present, unnatural death of a woman within seven years of her marriage is considered as dowry death, attracting punishment to the accused husband and relatives under IPC Section 304(B). While the current seven year rule and the automatic presumption of “dowry death” is in itself absurd, the National Commission for Women (NCW) is now pressuring the Government to broaden the scope of Dowry Prohibition Act so that unnatural death of a woman at ANY stage of her marriage qualifies as dowry death. While every death of a young married woman is converted into a case of dowry death leading to immediate arrest of the husband and in-laws, large-scale suicides of men do not cause any outrage. While husbands and their relatives are under constant suspicion leading to frequent violation of their basic human rights, wives are rarely ever questioned leave alone prosecuted if a husband dies or ends his life under similar circumstances.

Is this outright discrimination against men and their families a means to promote Women’s Equality?

The Domestic Violence Act claims to protect women from physical, verbal, emotional, sexual and economical abuse. According to the law an aggrieved person is always a woman and the aggressor is always a man. Thus, the law only recognizes domestic violence committed by a man on a woman. While this law is heavily biased against men, there are many gross inconsistencies in the law, which prove that the DV Act is not good for women either. The DV Act allows legally wedded women, divorced women and girlfriends (former or present) to subject a man and his relatives to domestic violence and legal harassment. The law also allows a daughter-in-law to evict the husband along with his dependent mother, father, brothers and sisters from their own property.

Does providing a woman the ability to have a man stripped of his possessions and kicked out of his house along with his family members (on the mere basis of her accusation of domestic violence) qualify as Women’s Equality?

CrPC 125 is a Criminal Section which is biased towards women. Under this section, any legally married woman who cannot sustain life on her own can legally claim maintenance from the husband, while an impoverished husband cannot claim maintenance from his gainfully-employed wife. It is a well-known fact that a large proportion of women who are well educated, employed or qualified enough to find gainful employment are approaching courts to demand maintenance from the husband. Such women also simultaneously entangle the husband and his family in false criminal cases under Section 498A and Dowry Prohibition Act. They also use civil provisions like the Domestic Violence Act and Section 24 of Hindu Marriage Act (in addition to CrPC 125) to demand maintenance from the husband. NCW is now pushing for providing maintenance not only to legally wedded/separated/divorced wives but also to female live-in partners. Another major amendment sought by NCW in Section 125 of CrPC is that women who have violated the sanctity and the legal contract of marriage by committing adultery should be considered as victims and also provided maintenance.

Does allowing women to treat men as ATM machines and encouraging them to lead a parasitic life qualify as Women’s Equality?

Women also misuse legal provisions to alienate children from fathers when marriages break down. Many fathers suffer immensely due to separation from their children and many children are deprived of access to fatherly love and care.

Is misuse of the judicial process to violate a child’s right to both parents a symbol of Women’s Equality?

Many representations have been made to the Ministry of Women and Child Development to correct the laws and to make them gender neutral in the interest of equality, fairness and justice to men and women. Requests have been made to include gender neutral, family friendly organizations like Mothers and Sisters Initiative (MASI) and All India Forgotten Women (AIFW) in the discussion, draft and review of laws related to women. While the Ministry of Women and Child Development, in its Round Table Conference conducted on 25 June 2008, admitted that the present pro-women laws are being grossly misused, no measures have been taken to curb the large scale misuse of the laws and the ensuing human rights abuses.

NCW is trivializing the extent of misuse of these laws by women and is exaggerating statistics of dowry harassment, dowry death and domestic abuse in order to attract funds from foreign agencies like UNIFEM and USAID and to push for more stringent legal provisions. NCW has blatantly denied any help to innocent mothers and sisters who have been falsely accused and harassed under IPC Section 498A and Section 304(B). NCW is pressuring the Government to ignore any recommendations to amend IPC Section 498A and Domestic Violence Act which might make the provisions gender neutral and less prone to misuse.

NCW is denying domestic abuse against our fathers, brothers and sons and refusing protection to husbands and their male and female relatives from abusive wives. As a result, twice as many married men, compared to women, are committing suicide every year unable to endure physical, emotional, verbal and economic abuse and legal harassment.

Is the pain of a mother who lost a son to domestic abuse or legal terrorism any less than that of a mother who lost a daughter? How many more mothers and sisters should lose their sons and brothers before measures are taken to alleviate their sufferings?
Aren’t mothers and sisters women? Don’t they deserve a life of dignity and respect?
Does penalizing innocent mothers and sisters under false cases bring justice to genuinely abused women?
Does women’s empowerment mean destroying family harmony and creating a fatherless society?
Is protection of women’s rights synonymous with gross violation of basic human rights?
Is legal terrorism the solution to all women’s problems?

These are the questions we have posed time and again to the National Commission for Women and the Ministry of Women and Child Development, while they conveniently ignore and divert attention from these very pertinent and pressing issues.

On the occasion of Women’s Equality Day, we the members of MASI and AIFW make the following demands:

1. Mrs. Renuka Chowdhury should resign from the position of Minister for Women and Child Development, and Girija Vyas should be removed as the Chairperson of NCW, both for having miserably failed to protect innocent citizens, especially women, children and elders, from being arrested without trial/investigation in cases filed under Section 498A IPC and Section 304(B).
2. Grievances of mothers and sisters who are falsely accused and harassed under IPC Section 498A, Dowry Prohibition Act, Section 304(B) and Domestic Violence Act must be heard and redressed by State Women Commissions as well as National Commission for Women and the Women and Child Development Ministry.
3. No arrests of any of the accused (man, woman or child) should be made without proper investigation and written approval of police officials of the rank of DCP or above.
4. Persons filing false cases should be severely punished for misusing the judicial process and blocking the path of justice for genuine victims. The State should initiate prosecution suo motu against those found to be misusing laws to settle personal scores.
5. All civil and criminal laws should be made applicable to men and women equally. Specifically, provisions of IPC 498A, Domestic Violence Act, adultery laws, laws against rape and sexual harassment and family laws (divorce, maintenance and child custody) should be made gender-neutral.
6. Equal protection should be given to men and women against verbal, emotional, economic, physical and sexual abuse at home and in the work place.
7. Family friendly, gender neutral organizations like MASI and AIFW should be included in every discussion, draft and review committee on laws related to women.

Memorandum on Women’s Equality Day 2008

NCW’s recommendations to address “unnatural deaths” of married women are unreasonable

11th July 2008

To,
Ms. Renuka Chaudhary,
Minister, Government of India,
Ministry of Women and Child Development,
Shastri Bhavan `A’ Wing,
Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road,
New Delhi-110001

Sub: NCW’s recommendations to address “unnatural deaths” of married women are unreasonable

Dear Minister,

We, the members of All India Forgotten Women, are writing to express concern over the unending stream of unreasonable amendments to laws pertaining to women recommended by National Commission for Women (NCW).

Barely a week after NCW made ridiculous recommendations on awarding maintenance for live-in-partners and adulterous wives, it is now pushing for broadening of the Dowry Prohibition Act, so that unnatural death of a woman at ANY stage of her marriage qualifies as dowry death.

At present, unnatural death of a woman within seven years of her marriage is considered as dowry death, attracting punishment to the accused husband and relatives under Section 304(B). While the current seven year rule and the automatic presumption of “dowry death” is in itself is absurd, NCW opines that there should not be any time limit on registering unnatural death of a married woman as dowry death i.e. death caused due to demands for dowry.

Unnatural death “is a category used by coroners and vital statistics specialists for classifying all human deaths not properly describable as death by natural causes. Hence it would include events such as accident, execution, homicide, misadventure (being attacked by insects, reptiles, fishes, lions, tigers, bears, stingrays, or other wild animals), adverse outcome of surgery, suicide, terrorism, war.”

Any person, male or female, married or unmarried, may die an unnatural death due to any of the above causes. Among these, homicide (murder) is the only cause which unambiguously qualifies as a crime that can be committed by one person on another, and is already covered under IPC Section 302. It is, therefore, obvious that providing a Criminal Section specifically to deal with dowry murder is redundant, and only reflects gender bias.

In addition to murder, abetment of suicide is also a crime and punishable under IPC Section 306 which addresses both male and female victims. Therefore, once again, it is unnecessary to have duplications and special provisions in law like Section 304(B) and Section 498(A) to address suicides of women.

Most cases recorded as “dowry death” involve women who died by accident or by committing suicide.

Data from the National Crime Records Bureau indicates that there is no difference between the rate of suicide of married women and never married women. However, radical organizations like NCW would have us believe that every death of a married woman is a dowry death, without providing any justification for such presumption.

Recent data from the National Crime Records Bureau indicate that nearly twice as many married men, compared to married women, commit suicide every year, unable to withstand verbal, emotional, economic and physical abuse and legal harassment by their wives. While every death of a young married woman is converted into a case of dowry death leading to immediate arrest of the husband and in-laws, followed by a prompt media trial, large-scale suicides of men do not cause any outrage.

Gender obsessed women’s activists also refuse to admit the fact that accidental deaths are also equally likely among men and women. Therefore, it has become routine for police to arrest the husband and his relatives and book them under several sections including, IPC 498(A), 304(B), and Dowry Prohibition Act, every time a deceased woman’s relatives claim that she had been killed or driven to death/suicide for dowry. This is the case even when there are suicide notes or dying declarations absolving everyone including the husband of any responsibility for the woman’s suicide or death. There have even been instances where fake dowry death cases were registered and the “deceased” wife was found to be alive after the accused husband and in-laws were refused bail and imprisoned.

While husbands and their relatives are under constant suspicion leading to frequent violation of their basic human rights, wives are rarely ever questioned leave alone prosecuted if a husband dies or ends his life under similar circumstances. Media finds no incentive in highlighting the truth about abused men. People in power find no financial or political mileage to be gained from taking measures to prevent unnatural deaths of men.

The recent demise of Pushkar Singh is one of the countable few cases that at least caught some media attention. Sadly, even though his suicide note bears evidence to the fact that he was financially and emotionally destroyed because of false criminal cases filed against him and his family by his wife, she was not even called in for questioning by the police until family rights activists like us mounted pressure on them. One can only imagine the fate of cases where men take their lives silently, leaving no note behind. Deaths of these men make for the brief stories in newspapers stating that a certain man “killed himself due to family issues or financial problems”.

NCW is trying to appear very generous by recommending that “arrests of the immediate family members not be made till they are proved guilty”. Why should any individual (man or woman) be arrested unless there is strong basis to believe that they committed the alleged crime? Why is it alright to arrest a husband based on a presumption of dowry death (i.e. murder or abetment of suicide) when the same rule is not applied to a wife upon the unnatural death of the husband? As per the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, every human being (irrespective of age, sex or any other criterion) charged of a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Through its recommendations, NCW is suggesting that husbands do not count as humans or that they are not entitled to the same basic human rights as others.

Spreading blatant lies and alarmism about increasing crime against women, while ignoring similar abuses and crime against men, may be a lucrative means for radical organizations like NCW to justify their existence and to attract funds from national and international organizations. However, NCW has still to answer some fundamental questions pertaining to women’s welfare.

Is the pain of a mother who lost a son to domestic abuse or legal terrorism any less than that of a mother who lost a daughter? Is the pain of a woman who lost a brother any less than that of a woman who lost a sister?
How many more mothers and sisters should lose their sons and brothers before measures are taken to alleviate their sufferings?
Aren’t mothers and sisters women? Don’t they deserve a life of dignity and respect?
Do sufferings of innocent mothers and sisters bring justice to genuinely abused women?
Is protection of women’s rights synonymous with gross violation of basic human rights?
Is legal terrorism the solution to all women’s problems?

NCW pretends to possess proprietary rights on deciding what is good or bad for women’s empowerment in India. Through its anti-male, anti-family recommendations, NCW is posing a serious threat to the well-being of our families, especially that of our fathers, brothers and sons. We strongly condemn NCW’s radical proposals.

In the interest of justice, fairness and equality to both genders, we, the members of All India Forgotten Women, make the following recommendations:

• Section 304(B) should not be retained in the law; IPC Section 302 already covers murder and IPC Section 306 covers abetment of suicide, and therefore Section 304(B) is only a duplication of law, which is gender-biased.
• All cases of murder, including murder for dowry should be dealt with under IPC Section 302.
• All cases of abetment of suicide, including those allegedly done for dowry, should be dealt with under IPC Section 306.
• If IPC Section 304(B) is not removed from Indian law, then it should be amended and made applicable to men and women equally. Specifically, the word “husband/wife” should be replaced by the word “spouse”.
• Section 304(B) treats the accused as guilty until proven innocent, thus, violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which proclaims that “everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty”. The law needs to be amended so that no arrests of any of the accused (man, woman or child) are made without proper investigation and written approval of police officials of the rank of DCP or above.
• Those who misuse Section 304(B) for settling personal scores should be heavily penalized because false allegations and prosecution can cause irreparable damage to the accused parties even if they are later declared not guilty.

We hope that you will take our recommendations into serious consideration and promote justice irrespective of gender.

Thanking you.

Sincerely,

Uma Challa
President
All India Forgotten Women

Please click the link below for pdf version

aifwtowcd_section304b_finaldraft

National Commission for Women or National Commission for W…es?

7th July 2008

To,

Ms. Renuka Chaudhary,

Minister, Government of India,
Ministry of Women and Child Development,
Shastri Bhavan `A’ Wing,
Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road,
New Delhi-110001

Sub: Amendments to CrPC 125 recommended by NCW promote adultery and extortion

Honorable Minister,

We, the members of All India Forgotten Women, are appalled by the recent recommendations forwarded by the National Commission for Women (NCW) to the Ministry of Women and Child Development on the amendments sought in Section 125 of CrPC.

CrPC 125 is a Criminal Section which is biased towards women. Under this section, any legally married woman who cannot sustain life on her own can legally claim maintenance from the husband, while an impoverished husband cannot claim maintenance from his gainfully-employed wife. It is a well-known fact that a large proportion of women who are well educated, employed or qualified enough to find gainful employment are approaching courts to demand maintenance from the husband. Such women also simultaneously entangle the husband in false criminal cases under Section 498A and Dowry Prohibition Act. They also use civil provisions like the Domestic Violence Act and Section 24 of Hindu Marriage Act (in addition to CrPC 125) to demand maintenance from the husband.

Various media reports indicate that NCW is pushing for providing maintenance not only to legally wedded/separated/divorced wives but also to female live-in partners. Another major amendment sought by NCW in Section 125 of CrPC is that ‘adultery should no longer be a ground for denying maintenance to a woman’. We feel that these recommendations are extremely sinister and ill-conceived. Through this letter we explain why the above recommendations of NCW should not be accepted, and also propose amendments that promote gender equality.

A live-in relationship, unlike marriage, is not a legally binding contract. Women (and men) who enter live-in relationships are implicitly accepting the risk of a break-up, whatever the reasons for the break-up may be. Live-in relationship is, in fact, the preferred arrangement for men and women who wish to avoid legal formalities governing their union, separation or the relationship therein. Forcing legal interference into a relationship that is legally invalid is simply ridiculous. Even if one were to condone legalization of live-in relationships, the idea of protecting the interests of just the female live-in partner, and leaving the male partner in the lurch, open to economic abuse, betrays the anti-male sentiments of radical groups like NCW. By providing maintenance to female live-in partners, NCW would only be encouraging unscrupulous women to enter into relationships, break-up at will and extort money from the male partner. Given that the length of a legally valid live-in relationship has not been defined by NCW, a woman who has shared just one night with a man can technically claim maintenance from him. Therefore, whether the legal amendment recommended by NCW is a tool of women’s empowerment or a tool of legalized extortion is a moot question.

Committing adultery amounts to criminal breach of trust and violation of the social sanctity and legal contract of marriage. Adultery should be considered an offence whether it is committed by a man or woman, and equal penalty should be imposed on the erring spouse irrespective of gender. Earlier, NCW shot down proposals for amending Section 497 which suggested that women should be prosecuted for adultery. NCW categorically stated that adulterous women were “hapless victims”, while it considered adulterous men as criminals deserving to be prosecuted. It is shameful that NCW is now recommending amendments to CrPC 125 to convert it into an extortion tool and to award maintenance to adulterous women, in the name of women’s empowerment.

Many men have been forced to pay maintenance to undeserving women merely based on the assumption of perpetual victimhood of women promoted by organizations like NCW. Men who fail to pay maintenance for any reason risk going to jail and even losing the property they own. While scores of wives use existing laws to treat husbands as free ATM machines, NCW is now pushing for new provisions so that women who are not legally married, as well as women who violated the legal contract of marriage by committing adultery, can exploit male partners financially.

As fellow women, we feel that enjoying a parasitic life by siphoning money away from an estranged husband or partner is merely extortion in broad daylight and definitely not a sign of women’s empowerment. If anything, NCW’s idea of women’s empowerment is demeaning to hard-working, self-respecting and individualistic women. By supporting unscrupulous women and providing them more tools for misuse of law NCW is harming many families. Before pushing for anymore deceitful provisions claiming to empower women, NCW should think of ways to provide justice to the 1,20,645 innocent mothers and sisters arrested and tormented in the last four years under false complaints of cruelty and dowry harassment. If NCW were genuinely interested in welfare of women, it must strive to stop future arrests of innocent mothers and sisters.

We, the members of All India Forgotten Women, hereby, condemn the recommendations to CrPC 125 made by NCW. These recommendations are not only an insult to truly empowered women, but also a serious threat to the well-being of our beloved fathers, sons, brothers and male colleagues. Recommendations of NCW, which encourage adultery and live-in relationships, are also a good recipe for destruction of family and creation of a fatherless society.

We, therefore, request lawmakers to amend the CrPC 125 as under:

1. The word men/women should be replaced by the word person; the word husband/wife should be replaced by the word spouse.
2. No maintenance should be awarded to a spouse who is educated, employed or qualified to find gainful employment.
3. The phrase “living in adultery” should be replaced by the word “living or lived in adultery”, and the person who indulged in adultery should not be entitled to any maintenance from his/her spouse, as adultery is nothing but criminal breach of trust.
4. If a person files for maintenance under CrPC 125, he/she should not be allowed to file for maintenance under Section 24 of Hindu Marriage Act or Domestic Violence Act.
5. A maximum limit on monthly maintenance should be fixed and very strictly enforced irrespective of the gender of the spouse claiming maintenance.

We hope that you will take our recommendations and suggestions into serious consideration and promote justice and fairness irrespective of gender.

Thanking you.

Yours Sincerely,

Uma Challa

President

All India Forgotten Women

Please click on the link below for pdf version!

aifw_crpc125_amendments