The Abuse
Of Gender Biased Laws In India
The
filing of false cases against husbands/men by women are on the increase day by
day. This is the direct outcome of gender biased laws framed in India such as
the dowry law and the domestic violence act. Such laws have been crudely formed
and is totally biased towards woman. What is appalling about these laws is that
there is absolutely no redressal mechanism for the man even if heaven and earth
knows that the man is innocent and the woman had filed such a case for devilish
ulterior motives such as getting even for petty matters, extracting money, or
even to have an extra marital affair.
Let
us consider for a moment what situation can warrant such a legislation. Perhaps
the following dramatized and hypothetical situation could best suit the
situation. A village somewhere in interior part of India. The society is
heavily patriarchial. The husband is a landlord and she is his nth
wife. She cannot question any action of his. If questioned, she is mercilessly
beaten. After such a beating for having questioned him for bringing
different woman to the house and having sex in front of her, she decides to
report her physical torture and mental agony to the local police station. The
poor defenceless woman while in the station is molested and no complaint is
registered and she returns home….to further harassment and torture.
Perhaps
laws such as dowry law and the Domestic violence Act in the current form (with
no redressal mechanisms and you are guilty until proved innocent) may be
justifiable in the situation dramatized above. Is this the condition of most of
our women in society today. Are they so defenceless as the story
described . In the metros are’nt woman having all the rights as equivalent or
more than men, are’nt they earning well and are financially independent…?
In
the hands of the majority of women today these laws are turning slowly into
weapons of mass intimidation to the males and his relatives.
According
to these legislations, the following is a list of women’s rights:
- the right to control and subjugate the male partner
- The right to publicly humiliate and physically abuse the male partner and his entire family
- The right to divest the male partner of all his money and property
- The right to send the male partner and his entire family to jail on her whims and fancies
- The right to force the male partner to be a slave to her family
- The right to kick out the male partner from HIS house at her will
- The right to commit adultery (and send the male partner to jail if he dares object)
- The right to kill an unborn child regardless of the male’s partner’s wishes
- The right to have all “rights” and no responsibilities
In
Indian society from traditions handed over from generation after generation,
the male has several responsibilities to be fulfilled in the family. He is the
head of the family with responsibility to provide food, security and money to
the family. His role is that of provider and protector. He has to shoulder
heavy responsibilities in the family and naturally will need
certain powers and privileges to discharge his responsibilities.
When certain problems arise in the family, the man will have to take moderating
steps to rectify the same, sometimes against the like, wishes or whims of his
wife. Any such action taken (even if it is for a very good intention) can be
construed as constituting domestic violence as per the DV act. If the wife so
desires, she can even restrain him from looking after his parents. Then how can
he manage the family life entrusted to his care?. Hence several provisions in
the DV act is directly harmful to the established family structure in India.
When
this act was formulated, all good meaning people had welcomed the same,
thinking that no woman would go to such low extends and abuse a law which
has been framed entirely for the good of womankind. We had always envisioned
woman to be virtuous and righteous. Sadly, time has proved us wrong. Now the
purported abuser has turned the abused Not only have even educated and woman in
very high and responsible positions turned to abusing these laws, some
woman have gone to the extent that they have even falsely accused fathers of
raping daughters and in one case the lady even went to the extent of saying
that the daughter had given birth to a child by the father. When medical
examination of the daughter was done, it came to light that the daughter had
never conceived nor had ever given birth (such a case had happened in kerala,
and reported heavily in the media. When finally it was proved that such a thing
had never happened, sadly no action was taken against the false accuser i.e his
wife). In most cases, these vindictive woman send to jail their husbands old
(in some cases 90 year old) mother-in-laws and father-in-laws, brother-in-laws
and sister-in-laws to either just get sadistic pleasure of getting even, or to
usurp as much as money as possible from the husband or to simply spite the
husband and his family.
This
abuse has reached a point when parents (who know about these woman
centric laws) are really thinking twice about marriage for their sons. It would
be good if more and parents become sufficiently educated about these gender
biased laws. Boys also need to be educated about these laws and should allow
them the scope to decide about their marriage considering the fact how
adversely these laws could affect them in leading a normal and life with
dignity.
Sadly
media is showing and discussing these issues in a lopsided manner. Universally,
media is always with the weak and the oppressed. In this case, the media
have not realized or feigning not to recognize that man is the oppressed in
these situations. Also, men in some TV discussions on related topics do not
voice their views properly thinking that their view points would be construed
as them not being progressive and being incapable to fend for themselves
and thought of as being weak and hen pecked. Many times, they sit as dimwits
through the show and nod their heads to any and every atrocious comments (even
to the comment of the NCW that alimony should be granted to wife even if the
husband does not have payment capacity and even if wife is adulterous).
Here
the working of the NCW is worth mentioning. An organization formulated solely
for the upliftment of woman is slowly degenerating into an organization whose
sole concern seem to be only to promulgate misandry. This hatred towards men
can be seen in various sections of law being drawn up by the commission. Not
only do these woman draw up laws to ‘uplift’ or protect woman, they in the process
try every gimmick to see that sections are added so that every man is denuded
of almost all his rights and in the process forcing him to obey all of his
wife’s diktats. Notable among the recommendations are the following two:
- It will henceforth become the “duty” of a man to provide maintenance to his wife and children irrespective of the fact if he has sufficient means.
- Definition of a wife needs to be changed to include women who have lived with a man in a relation of marriage.
How
stupid and in some view malicious is the intentions. How can a man pay alimony
when he does not have sufficient funds to do so. Should he sell his body or
should he go for prostitution. The second recommendation is even more evil. By
this, the NCW is giving a clean chit to woman to commit adultery without any
fear – fear of the law or any kind of action by the poor husband. The NCW is
duping people by fudging data on the number of complaints, the number of
registered crime against woman etc etc in order to get popular support to aid
them draft and implement these draconian laws.
Over
the centuries man has contributed heavily in all spheres of life to take
mankind to where it is today. Even today, man as head of family does the most
dangerous and taxing jobs for the family. But feminists organizations are
working overtime to see that these efforts are not recognized in society by
highlighting certain shortcomings especially in the sexual front for men and
choosing to ignore or trivializing their massive contributions. They
conveniently brush aside the fact that men on a regular basis are ready to lay
down even their lives for their families especially for the female members of
the family when any danger accosts them. Today more and more married men
are succumbing to pressures and fears and committing suicide since they cannot
face the ignominy of going to jail and facing society afterwards – for no fault
of theirs.
Time has finally come when men and
right thinking women realise that unless they fight these draconian laws
the next generation will not see the family as it is today. These laws,
especially the anti dowry law and the DV act should be at the very least be
modified that if any accusation is proved to be false and purposely done
to harm the accused, then the accuser should get punishment atleast to the
extent of the accused crime. For instance, if a person accuses
being raped by another and her/his accusation is found to be false and of
malicious intent, then she/he should be jailed for the same number of years as
of a person convicted of rape abuse. Only if such redressal mechanisms
are in place will society see laws being executed in a gender
neutral manner upholding the dignity of every individual in the process.
