Save Indian Family Foundation, strongly and severely condemns the Derogatory Ad being telecast at the behest of Kitply Industries. The ad shows a young timid man getting married to a woman and on the first night the bed crumbles. The wife asks the husband, “Kitply nahi laye kya?” (Have you not bought Kitply?) and slaps the husband.
Openly, brazenly and cold – bloodedly this ad not only depicts Domestic Violence on men but also promulgates it, inspiring women to do it and telling men that this is a way of life. World over international studies have proved it beyond doubt that Domestic Violence is not a gender specific issue and is a matter of equal concern for both men and women.
The situation is far worse in India wherein gender biased, lopsided, avaricious, pernicious, draconian, anachronous and unconstitutional anti – male marital laws fail to recognize the presence of Domestic Violence and acknowledge the same for men. Yes, Domestic Violence laws in India do not consider the fact that men too could be victims of Domestic Violence the way women are presumed and prejudiced to be and the Domestic Violence law in India does not allow men to make complaints of Domestic Violence in India.
This despite the fact holding true that as per Government records i.e. suicide date published by National Crime Records Bureau, every year 56, 000 married men are committing suicide which is considered as a social service in a great country like India, where 82 % of taxes are paid by men. Neither do men have a Men Welfare Ministry for them nor a National Commission for Men to look into their grievances, whereas animals do have. The condition of Indian men is worse than animals in India.
To add to the woes men are subject to the constant fear of being dragged into false cases of dowry harassment and domestic violence draining them financially, socially, morally and spiritually in addition to being victims of Domestic Violence as well at the hands of their vindictive and vicious wives and in – laws who do not forget to file false cases of dowry harassment on the innocent men and their families and drag them to police station and court and unleash Legal Terrorism on them and extort money legally from them.
As if all this was no less, when corporates like Kitply Industries rain on men and promote Domestic Violence on men as a norm and when confronted for the same, shamelessly claim that it has been shown in a humorous mood, and shrug away from accountability. The contention that the ad was shown in a light spirit is subject to critical analysis and not becoming of a brand name Kitply Industries.
Save Indian Family Foundation, the single largest umbrella NGO for about 15 different NGOs fighting not only for men’s rights but also for Gender Equality and Family Harmony, severely condemns such derogatory ads and demands apology from Kitply Industries, failing which Save Indian Family Foundation will be forced to issue legal notices to them to respond properly.
One can only imagine the kind of euphoria that would have been generated if they had shown a man slapping a woman in similar manner. So when activists championing the cause of Equality for Women are crying foul, why are they now silent when Gender Equality is critically endangered and its existence seriously jeopardized with such derogatory ad content. This only depicts the hollow goals with which such activists work and want to rake in the mullah in the name of Women Empowerment and feminism but do not believe in actual equality based on truth and justice.
Save Indian Family Foundation re – iterates its demand of an apology from Kitply Industries and once again puts this question to the civil society and the government that how long are they continuing to consider men as second class citizens in their own country?
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Alimony - The Trojan Horse of Matrimony
Irony defining life it seems has become a norm in today’s times. And it does not seem to spare the most controversial social institution, working as first step towards familial life, aka the INDIAN MARRIAGE. The irony here is that what starts as a pompous celebration and extravagant spending ends with financially, emotionally and spiritually draining litigation with mud – slinging from both sides aka the DIVORCE. And ending a marriage is very costly for a man, not only of because the fear of false cases of dowry harassment and domestic violence against him but also as he is liable to pay alimony or maintenance pedante lite to his wife.
The concept of alimony, although was designed with a noble intention of prevention of stranded and protection of destitute non – earning spouse, the same has increasingly become the single largest motivating factor for girls to break their marriages at the slightest sneeze of discomfiture in the relationship with their husbands. And in order to gain a beneficial and an empowered bargaining position in the negotiation for alimony they even do not refrain from filing false cases of Dowry Harassment against their husbands and in – laws and getting them arrested to plant fear in their mind to make them succumb to their heavy demands of alimony.
Thus, in today’s dynamic socio – economic scenario, alimony has become the Trojan Horse of matrimony. Girls know it very well that the moment they start losing control in the marriage or over their husband they can always walk out of it by entangling the husband in false cases of dowry harassment and domestic violence and harassing him so much that he agrees to pay the heavy ransom girls demand to release him from the forced slavery and give him the costly freedom called divorce.
Was ever alimony in divorce meant to be an easy route to tax – free money? Never. But with the existing rampant corruption amongst the police, judiciary and the legal system, men are made to pay heavy alimonies to their estranged wives for settling the false cases and everyone involved in the settlement gets a share of the pie. The practice is thriving like a flourishing business which is so anti – male in nature that every year 56, 000 married men are committing suicide, unable to bear the brunt of fallacy called, The Bad Marriage.
As its definition stands, alimony is subsistence – allowance which allows a non – capable spouse to maintain oneself post divorce. Spouses who are earning or are capable of earning based on their qualifications are not entitled to alimony. One might contend by the above definition that for working women / substantially educated women opting for divorce, as they are not entitled to alimony, their husbands need not worry, but it will be imperative to state here that increasing number of such cases are coming forth where either women have hidden the income and the fact that they earn or deliberately left job to squander money from husband.
Even if the woman is not able to maintain herself, then more than the husband, the parents of the woman are a greater culprit for not properly empowering their daughter with proper education and making her dependent on someone else, expecting that the marriage of their daughter with that person will last for eternity. And is it not the daughter’s right in her ancestral property, her legitimate due that she should get? Why are girl’s parents shrugging away from this responsibility of theirs and discriminating between a daughter and a son when distribution of wealth comes into picture? Why is it expected that only the husband is responsible to maintain the woman even when they are not staying together? Why the girl’s parents are not held responsible for such a condition of their daughter? Will the civil society at least think over these questions if not answer them?
The concept of alimony, although was designed with a noble intention of prevention of stranded and protection of destitute non – earning spouse, the same has increasingly become the single largest motivating factor for girls to break their marriages at the slightest sneeze of discomfiture in the relationship with their husbands. And in order to gain a beneficial and an empowered bargaining position in the negotiation for alimony they even do not refrain from filing false cases of Dowry Harassment against their husbands and in – laws and getting them arrested to plant fear in their mind to make them succumb to their heavy demands of alimony.
Thus, in today’s dynamic socio – economic scenario, alimony has become the Trojan Horse of matrimony. Girls know it very well that the moment they start losing control in the marriage or over their husband they can always walk out of it by entangling the husband in false cases of dowry harassment and domestic violence and harassing him so much that he agrees to pay the heavy ransom girls demand to release him from the forced slavery and give him the costly freedom called divorce.
Was ever alimony in divorce meant to be an easy route to tax – free money? Never. But with the existing rampant corruption amongst the police, judiciary and the legal system, men are made to pay heavy alimonies to their estranged wives for settling the false cases and everyone involved in the settlement gets a share of the pie. The practice is thriving like a flourishing business which is so anti – male in nature that every year 56, 000 married men are committing suicide, unable to bear the brunt of fallacy called, The Bad Marriage.
As its definition stands, alimony is subsistence – allowance which allows a non – capable spouse to maintain oneself post divorce. Spouses who are earning or are capable of earning based on their qualifications are not entitled to alimony. One might contend by the above definition that for working women / substantially educated women opting for divorce, as they are not entitled to alimony, their husbands need not worry, but it will be imperative to state here that increasing number of such cases are coming forth where either women have hidden the income and the fact that they earn or deliberately left job to squander money from husband.
Even if the woman is not able to maintain herself, then more than the husband, the parents of the woman are a greater culprit for not properly empowering their daughter with proper education and making her dependent on someone else, expecting that the marriage of their daughter with that person will last for eternity. And is it not the daughter’s right in her ancestral property, her legitimate due that she should get? Why are girl’s parents shrugging away from this responsibility of theirs and discriminating between a daughter and a son when distribution of wealth comes into picture? Why is it expected that only the husband is responsible to maintain the woman even when they are not staying together? Why the girl’s parents are not held responsible for such a condition of their daughter? Will the civil society at least think over these questions if not answer them?
NCW caught red handed speaking lies
National Commission of Women (NCW) needs to be banned for its unethical activities.
1) They openly support adulterous women by claiming them as victims and seek amendments to grant maintenance to adulterous women.
2) They openly say, DO NOT BELIEVE THE MEDIA REPORTS.
3) They openly speak white lies as depicted below in the mail conversation between them. Read on.
Would the NCW like to clarify what does it mean by harsh?
1) Sending innocent mothers and sisters on the basis of an unverified complaint is not harsh?
2) Shielding 56, 000 husband killers is not harsh?
3) Fudging statistics to get foreign funds for implementing anti - family, avaricious, pernicious, draconian, anachronous, anti - male laws and unleashing them unto the society is not harsh?
4) Openly protecting the rights of adulterous, promiscuous women is not harsh?
5) Demanding multiple maintenance from males under pretext of false allegations is not harsh?, And last but not the least.
6) Turning away old mothers tortured by their unscrupulous daughter - in - laws and her parents is not harsh, saying this does not come under their ambit?
WILL THE NCW ANSWER?
And what realities they are talking of, why don’t they come out in public if they are so astute, devout and sincere?
with regard to your queries you are hereby informed that
1. that NCW does not send innocent mothers and sisters on the basis of an unverified complaint to jails we dont have such power in the first place
2. that the NCW does offer support to women in distress which may also include sisters and mothers and just daughter in laws therefore your presumptions on NCW is factually misleading
3. we do not fudge statistics the staistics are manintained by NCRB and not by NCW
4. ncw has not protected the rights of adulterous women i do not know from where you have gathered such information please do not beleive in media reports
5. we have not ever turned away old mothers etc any women requiring help is provided be it a mother sister or daufghter in law any one requiring assitance can approach us
6. we do not distinguish or categorise in fact you would be surprised to note that the NCW recommendations on implementation of Dowry related acts is that first and foremost resort to counselling and mediation with intention to save the marriage and family and only where a prima facie case exists then the legal recourse is to be taken to
any more queries ???
yogesh mehta
law officer
1) Then why has the NCW not taken any action for the 1, 20, 000 women arrested from 2004 -2007 on a mere FIR? Does NCW consider it right? Does it not consider it should make a move to protect those mothers and sisters who are harassed by police before being tried or convicted? Just answer Yes or NO.
2) Can NCW give me the statistics of the number of women as mothers and sisters it has helped vis - a vis the number of daughter - in - laws it has helped? Just answer Yes or NO. Does NCW maintain such categorized information. Just answer Yes or NO. If not reasons.
3) If you do not fudge statistics, then how did NCW made a claim that 70 % women are denied maintenance on adultery grounds and later when asked to publish source data for it, categorically denied having such information. News link. Do you consider this as fudging of statistics. Just answer Yes or NO. NCW Supporting Adultery. See Link1
4) It is the same media reports based on which you keep shouting on violence on women. And now that I have official email from NCW telling me not to believe media reports. Let the media also know about it. If NCW does not protect the rights of adulterous women by making propositions to remove the adultery clause in maintenance. Do you think this is not supporting adulterous women. Just answer Yes or NO.
5) I would like you to provide me details to convince me how many cases have you have resolved with mediation and how many women other than wives have been genuinely helped by NCW.
PS: We, at Save Indian Family Foundation do not consider the advice to file a case as genuine help as it does not help either. So answer keeping this note in mind.
1) It has been brought to NCW’s notice several times thro’ media. And now also I am bringing it to your notice. What can you do for them? Or better what can you do to prevent such mishaps in future?
2) So categorically NCW cannot substantiate its claim of having supported mothers and sisters?
3) Some cases?? How many judgments do you have? The article makes no mention of that. And when NCW was sent an RTI application for data supporting the claim that in 70 % of cases, women are denied maintenance for adultery why did the NCW reply that it does not maintain such information. If the NCW does not maintain such information, why was it published in Media and if the information was not given by NCW why has NCW not taken action against the tabloid for printing information without approval. This means NCW has got the information published and then later denied having source of that information. Do you consider its ethical on part of NCW to behave in such a manner. I want an answer in YES or NO.
4) “NCW also sought another significant amendment to Section 125, saying that said adultery should no longer be a ground for denying maintenance to a woman. ”
This is from the article. Still you say NCW has not made such a claim and repeat it as well? Are you not writing white lies?? At least make some background research before writing an email. You are being watched by 15, 000 members. And on a discussion note, I would like to know why does NCW consider adultery should be made a civil offense? Adultery in a relationship tantamount to breach of trust. What makes NCW think per se that it is a civil offense and why should a woman be provided maintenance who has walked out of the relationship.
5) Read my point number 5 then revert back. I have asked for some information.
6) Oh sure I will, you do not worry about that.
1) They openly support adulterous women by claiming them as victims and seek amendments to grant maintenance to adulterous women.
2) They openly say, DO NOT BELIEVE THE MEDIA REPORTS.
3) They openly speak white lies as depicted below in the mail conversation between them. Read on.
Would the NCW like to clarify what does it mean by harsh?
1) Sending innocent mothers and sisters on the basis of an unverified complaint is not harsh?
2) Shielding 56, 000 husband killers is not harsh?
3) Fudging statistics to get foreign funds for implementing anti - family, avaricious, pernicious, draconian, anachronous, anti - male laws and unleashing them unto the society is not harsh?
4) Openly protecting the rights of adulterous, promiscuous women is not harsh?
5) Demanding multiple maintenance from males under pretext of false allegations is not harsh?, And last but not the least.
6) Turning away old mothers tortured by their unscrupulous daughter - in - laws and her parents is not harsh, saying this does not come under their ambit?
WILL THE NCW ANSWER?
And what realities they are talking of, why don’t they come out in public if they are so astute, devout and sincere?
with regard to your queries you are hereby informed that
1. that NCW does not send innocent mothers and sisters on the basis of an unverified complaint to jails we dont have such power in the first place
2. that the NCW does offer support to women in distress which may also include sisters and mothers and just daughter in laws therefore your presumptions on NCW is factually misleading
3. we do not fudge statistics the staistics are manintained by NCRB and not by NCW
4. ncw has not protected the rights of adulterous women i do not know from where you have gathered such information please do not beleive in media reports
5. we have not ever turned away old mothers etc any women requiring help is provided be it a mother sister or daufghter in law any one requiring assitance can approach us
6. we do not distinguish or categorise in fact you would be surprised to note that the NCW recommendations on implementation of Dowry related acts is that first and foremost resort to counselling and mediation with intention to save the marriage and family and only where a prima facie case exists then the legal recourse is to be taken to
any more queries ???
yogesh mehta
law officer
1) Then why has the NCW not taken any action for the 1, 20, 000 women arrested from 2004 -2007 on a mere FIR? Does NCW consider it right? Does it not consider it should make a move to protect those mothers and sisters who are harassed by police before being tried or convicted? Just answer Yes or NO.
2) Can NCW give me the statistics of the number of women as mothers and sisters it has helped vis - a vis the number of daughter - in - laws it has helped? Just answer Yes or NO. Does NCW maintain such categorized information. Just answer Yes or NO. If not reasons.
3) If you do not fudge statistics, then how did NCW made a claim that 70 % women are denied maintenance on adultery grounds and later when asked to publish source data for it, categorically denied having such information. News link. Do you consider this as fudging of statistics. Just answer Yes or NO. NCW Supporting Adultery. See Link1
4) It is the same media reports based on which you keep shouting on violence on women. And now that I have official email from NCW telling me not to believe media reports. Let the media also know about it. If NCW does not protect the rights of adulterous women by making propositions to remove the adultery clause in maintenance. Do you think this is not supporting adulterous women. Just answer Yes or NO.
5) I would like you to provide me details to convince me how many cases have you have resolved with mediation and how many women other than wives have been genuinely helped by NCW.
PS: We, at Save Indian Family Foundation do not consider the advice to file a case as genuine help as it does not help either. So answer keeping this note in mind.
1) It has been brought to NCW’s notice several times thro’ media. And now also I am bringing it to your notice. What can you do for them? Or better what can you do to prevent such mishaps in future?
2) So categorically NCW cannot substantiate its claim of having supported mothers and sisters?
3) Some cases?? How many judgments do you have? The article makes no mention of that. And when NCW was sent an RTI application for data supporting the claim that in 70 % of cases, women are denied maintenance for adultery why did the NCW reply that it does not maintain such information. If the NCW does not maintain such information, why was it published in Media and if the information was not given by NCW why has NCW not taken action against the tabloid for printing information without approval. This means NCW has got the information published and then later denied having source of that information. Do you consider its ethical on part of NCW to behave in such a manner. I want an answer in YES or NO.
4) “NCW also sought another significant amendment to Section 125, saying that said adultery should no longer be a ground for denying maintenance to a woman. ”
This is from the article. Still you say NCW has not made such a claim and repeat it as well? Are you not writing white lies?? At least make some background research before writing an email. You are being watched by 15, 000 members. And on a discussion note, I would like to know why does NCW consider adultery should be made a civil offense? Adultery in a relationship tantamount to breach of trust. What makes NCW think per se that it is a civil offense and why should a woman be provided maintenance who has walked out of the relationship.
5) Read my point number 5 then revert back. I have asked for some information.
6) Oh sure I will, you do not worry about that.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Open Letter to oppose NCW's latest proposal
TO,
Dated: 03 September 2008,
Sub: Objections to NCW being awarded the status equivalent of a Court.
Dear Sir / Madam,
This is pertaining to the recent proposal of elevating the status of National Commission of Women to that of a court and giving powers equivalent of a Member of Parliament to the chairperson of the National Commission of Women.
Save Indian Family Foundation, Bangalore, a non – profit, non funded NGO promoted to the cause of spreading the message of gender equality and Family Harmony in the society since the past 2 – 3 years in addition to its efforts to help victims of misuse of marital laws and create awareness about the same has some strong objections to such a proposal owing to the following points:-
1) NCW, as designed to be an astute body working for the causes of women has miserably failed in its duties to protect the rights of women and safeguard the same as the arrest data published by the National Crime Records Bureau shows that close to 1, 20, 000 women have been arrested in the last four years for complaints under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. These women are the mothers and sisters of the husbands accused of false dowry allegations by unscrupulous women who fail to recognize family values and view marriage as a business opportunity to earn tax free money. Such women are shielded by the NCW and as such, NCW does not deserve to be given this special consideration. News link
2) Very recently the NCW had made quite obnoxious an amendment to demand maintenance for live – in partners and to remove the clause of adultery as a reason to deny maintenance to promiscuous and adulterous women. Such a proposal in itself is a direct insult of the sacrosanct social institution called marriage and to those devout and faithful wives who are committed to their husbands. Granting equal privileges as wives to a live – in partner directly degrade the status of marriage in the society which is a solemnized vow in presence of family elders whereas there is no commitment factor in a live – in relationship. And suggesting maintenance for live – in partners is luring more women to enter into multiple relationships and demand maintenance from each partner. This is a direct attempt to degrade and demean the existing status of women in the society. Ironically this statement is coming from NCW, supposed to be working for upliftment of women in the society. Thus NCW, working to protect the rights of promiscuous and adulterous women at the cost of devout and sincere women does not deserve to be of equivalent status as that of a court.
3) In order to support its above claim NCW went ahead and published that in 70 % of cases women are denied maintenance on grounds of adultery. SIFF activists when filed for data to support the claim made by NCW, through an application under Rights to Information Act, 2005, NCW in its reply categorically denied maintaining any such data. It was a white lie published by NCW and a delirious attempt by NCW to fudge statistics and present an otherwise picture to realize vendetta best known to it. Such a body severely lacking integrity and accountability does not deserve such a position. News link.
4) A court of law, supposed to be a temple of justice, is a place where people get their grievances redressed in a procedural manner and such a temple has a very high demand to be fair, unbiased, impartial and just. Granting the status equivalent to court to a women’s commission is direct and in – the – face discrimination against men who are anyways facing a lot of discrimination even in the current scenario when NCW has no judgmental powers and every year more than double the number of men are committing suicides than women, thanks to the heavily lopsided and duplicated laws supported and pampered by NCW. One can only imagine the situation when such a body filled with people of anti – male views assumes a position of power
Hence keeping in view the above objections we severely condemn the proposal to elevate the status of NCW to that of a court and grant privileges equivalent to a Member of Parliament to the Chairperson of NCW and be dropped categorically and buried forever in the bud for larger public interest to restore faith and trust in the system.
Dated: 03 September 2008,
Sub: Objections to NCW being awarded the status equivalent of a Court.
Dear Sir / Madam,
This is pertaining to the recent proposal of elevating the status of National Commission of Women to that of a court and giving powers equivalent of a Member of Parliament to the chairperson of the National Commission of Women.
Save Indian Family Foundation, Bangalore, a non – profit, non funded NGO promoted to the cause of spreading the message of gender equality and Family Harmony in the society since the past 2 – 3 years in addition to its efforts to help victims of misuse of marital laws and create awareness about the same has some strong objections to such a proposal owing to the following points:-
1) NCW, as designed to be an astute body working for the causes of women has miserably failed in its duties to protect the rights of women and safeguard the same as the arrest data published by the National Crime Records Bureau shows that close to 1, 20, 000 women have been arrested in the last four years for complaints under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. These women are the mothers and sisters of the husbands accused of false dowry allegations by unscrupulous women who fail to recognize family values and view marriage as a business opportunity to earn tax free money. Such women are shielded by the NCW and as such, NCW does not deserve to be given this special consideration. News link
2) Very recently the NCW had made quite obnoxious an amendment to demand maintenance for live – in partners and to remove the clause of adultery as a reason to deny maintenance to promiscuous and adulterous women. Such a proposal in itself is a direct insult of the sacrosanct social institution called marriage and to those devout and faithful wives who are committed to their husbands. Granting equal privileges as wives to a live – in partner directly degrade the status of marriage in the society which is a solemnized vow in presence of family elders whereas there is no commitment factor in a live – in relationship. And suggesting maintenance for live – in partners is luring more women to enter into multiple relationships and demand maintenance from each partner. This is a direct attempt to degrade and demean the existing status of women in the society. Ironically this statement is coming from NCW, supposed to be working for upliftment of women in the society. Thus NCW, working to protect the rights of promiscuous and adulterous women at the cost of devout and sincere women does not deserve to be of equivalent status as that of a court.
3) In order to support its above claim NCW went ahead and published that in 70 % of cases women are denied maintenance on grounds of adultery. SIFF activists when filed for data to support the claim made by NCW, through an application under Rights to Information Act, 2005, NCW in its reply categorically denied maintaining any such data. It was a white lie published by NCW and a delirious attempt by NCW to fudge statistics and present an otherwise picture to realize vendetta best known to it. Such a body severely lacking integrity and accountability does not deserve such a position. News link.
4) A court of law, supposed to be a temple of justice, is a place where people get their grievances redressed in a procedural manner and such a temple has a very high demand to be fair, unbiased, impartial and just. Granting the status equivalent to court to a women’s commission is direct and in – the – face discrimination against men who are anyways facing a lot of discrimination even in the current scenario when NCW has no judgmental powers and every year more than double the number of men are committing suicides than women, thanks to the heavily lopsided and duplicated laws supported and pampered by NCW. One can only imagine the situation when such a body filled with people of anti – male views assumes a position of power
Hence keeping in view the above objections we severely condemn the proposal to elevate the status of NCW to that of a court and grant privileges equivalent to a Member of Parliament to the Chairperson of NCW and be dropped categorically and buried forever in the bud for larger public interest to restore faith and trust in the system.
Google Censorship
<>
The major search engines censor access to many web sites. 11 min
They all have internal organizations responsible for executing the censoring policies of their company. We can be confident that none of these organizations is called the “Censoring Division”. The people in these organizations may also sincerely believe that what they are doing is in the best interests of their users and that every single site that they block is “doing something wrong”.
The problem with Internet censoring is the same as any other form of censoring. As history has repeatedly demonstrated, once you start censoring it is very hard to stop. It is always possible to rationalize that people would be better off if they didn’t have access to certain information.
Google has often censored some of my own pages. These pages have completely and utterly disappeared from their search engines. They do not exist!
(And please do not bother writing to me to explain that this might be because their ‘blind’ algorithms might simply have changed - because I have far too much evidence pointing to the conclusion that these ‘algorithms’ include site-specific and/or page-specific instructions and I also know the internet extremely well.)
You see; Google has a problem. And it is this.
Just like the telephone companies, Google claims that it cannot possibly have any responsibility for what information flows through its system. After all, in much the same way that the telephone companies cannot possibly monitor all the billions of telephone conversations that flow through their systems, Google cannot possibly monitor all the information on the billions of webpages that it lists.
Or so it claims.
And, on the surface, this claim seems to be a reasonable one.
BUT!
If Google is, indeed, censoring information (e.g. delisting pages from its search engines or demoting them in the rankings because of their content) then, quite clearly, it is monitoring this information.
And if it is monitoring this information, then it can surely be deemed to be liable for the presentation of it!
And if this was the case then, for example, this would mean that Google could be held responsible for any libel that appeared on webpages that it had listed - or, perhaps, responsible for aiding terrorists etc etc etc.
In short; if Google admits to monitoring, then it can be held to be ‘liable’.
So, Google is somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place.
On the one hand, it proudly proclaims to be a defender of free speech and that it would not dream of censoring (blocking, de-listing, demoting etc etc) any webpages of information, and it insists most strongly that, therefore, it cannot possibly be held liable for any of the content but, on the other hand, it does not want to upset governments; and it can only do this by doing what governments tell them.
And so Google has chosen to worm its way out of this dilemma by, quite simply, accommodating to the wishes of governments - and lying to the people about it.
Now some of my long-time readers might recall that the last time that I had a barney with Google - when, if you believe it, they removed all advertising from a single innocuous page concerning men’s issues on my other website - I had to maraud around for three or four days demonstrating to Google that I would trawl the internet here, there and everywhere in order to spread the news about Google’s heinous activities to whomsoever might seem interested - especially journalists.
And I think that what finally convinced Google to be more accommodating was me pointing out the fact that not only was I, clearly, a very energetic activist, but that rushing around the internet badmouthing Google would do absolute wonders for my site’s traffic - and that, therefore, I would find the experience most rewarding - which meant that I was very unlikely to stop badmouthing Google hither and thither - week after week if necessary.
My ads came back.
Well, it looks as if I am now going to have to create a fuss over www.HarrietHarmanSucks.Com - because its pages have been disappeared into the abyss - having all first appeared for a few days hovering between pages 5 and 20 following a search for “Harriet Harman”
And so my plan is this.
I am going to write a piece about why Google needs to be ‘controlled’ and restricted in some way and explain how outrageous it is that it should have so much power.
And then I am going to start marauding around the internet again.
Because, ….
I will not be censored!
LOL!
(And you can forget all the BS about Google being a private company and so it should be able to de-list or demote whatever pages it likes, because it is illegal for companies to cheat people. And if Google is censoring my pages, then it is cheating the people most horribly!)
The alternative, I suppose, is to re-write the pieces so that they are less ‘hostile’.
Hmmm.
I’ll think about it.
Maybe if I grovelled to Harriet Harman in my pieces instead of castigating her Google would re-list my pages.
Grovel. Grovel.
LOL!
Huh!
I would rather that my missus be torn apart and devoured slowly by a gruesome herd of flesh-eating crocodiles.
(While I watched her writhing in agony, ate ice cream, and chatted to my new girlfriend, of course!)
Anyway. The piece above is very good indeed, and definitely worth reading.
+ We have private companies like Google deciding what we can and can’t see based on their self-interested readings of poorly-drafted national laws, taking advice from unnamed and unaccountable Government agencies and telling nobody what is going on. Bill Thompson
And, of course, this is one of the ways in which western governments intend to stifle dissent.
This is the deal in a nutshell.
Government: “If you, Google, do not disappear from view those most effective pieces that are hostile to us, then we shall bring some kind of law to bear upon you.”
Google: “Yes Sir. No Sir. Three bags full, Sir.”
Government: “But you must not tell the people of this secret deal.”
Google: “Yes Sir. No Sir. Three bags full, Sir.”
There is no question in my mind that this is going on.
And this means that we do not have a democracy.
Of course, Google would not dare to nobble websites that were very influential - because too many influential people might get upset about it.
So, between them, Google and the government keep it all secret and under the carpet.
In other words, as usual, our own governments - and, in this case, Google - are cheating us.
And talk about hypocrisy! - with all our politicians forever criticising the Chinese government for blocking access to websites that are critical of government and its officials, when they are doing something very similar over here.
Indeed, our governments - through their officials - are lying to us all the time.
Furthermore, when, at the time, I did a whole load of research into the matter of ‘adverts’ and the ‘blacklisting’ of them, it became fairly clear to me that the sites that had lost their adverts were mostly on the right side of the political spectrum in that they were often anti-feminist and/or not politically correct.
So, as in so many other areas, my guess is that internet activists who are anti-feminist and/or not politically correct are also having to cope with the customary institutionalised biases against them; but this time, with the aid of Google.
But decent lefties must also be very much concerned about this, firstly, because it might not be too long before those who are pulling the strings are more right-wing and, secondly, because “men’s issues” have precious little to do with being on the left or the right of the political spectrum; because when it come to issues of concern to ‘men’, the official left and right are just as bad as each other.
In other words, all men should be very concerned indeed about Google’s underhand censorship because not only does this undermine the democratic process most seriously, it also means that those activists who are fighting the corner for ‘men’ (rightly or wrongly) are being unfairly treated and that the issues of concern to ‘men’ are - once again - being purposely sat upon and hidden.
The major search engines censor access to many web sites. 11 min
They all have internal organizations responsible for executing the censoring policies of their company. We can be confident that none of these organizations is called the “Censoring Division”. The people in these organizations may also sincerely believe that what they are doing is in the best interests of their users and that every single site that they block is “doing something wrong”.
The problem with Internet censoring is the same as any other form of censoring. As history has repeatedly demonstrated, once you start censoring it is very hard to stop. It is always possible to rationalize that people would be better off if they didn’t have access to certain information.
Google has often censored some of my own pages. These pages have completely and utterly disappeared from their search engines. They do not exist!
(And please do not bother writing to me to explain that this might be because their ‘blind’ algorithms might simply have changed - because I have far too much evidence pointing to the conclusion that these ‘algorithms’ include site-specific and/or page-specific instructions and I also know the internet extremely well.)
You see; Google has a problem. And it is this.
Just like the telephone companies, Google claims that it cannot possibly have any responsibility for what information flows through its system. After all, in much the same way that the telephone companies cannot possibly monitor all the billions of telephone conversations that flow through their systems, Google cannot possibly monitor all the information on the billions of webpages that it lists.
Or so it claims.
And, on the surface, this claim seems to be a reasonable one.
BUT!
If Google is, indeed, censoring information (e.g. delisting pages from its search engines or demoting them in the rankings because of their content) then, quite clearly, it is monitoring this information.
And if it is monitoring this information, then it can surely be deemed to be liable for the presentation of it!
And if this was the case then, for example, this would mean that Google could be held responsible for any libel that appeared on webpages that it had listed - or, perhaps, responsible for aiding terrorists etc etc etc.
In short; if Google admits to monitoring, then it can be held to be ‘liable’.
So, Google is somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place.
On the one hand, it proudly proclaims to be a defender of free speech and that it would not dream of censoring (blocking, de-listing, demoting etc etc) any webpages of information, and it insists most strongly that, therefore, it cannot possibly be held liable for any of the content but, on the other hand, it does not want to upset governments; and it can only do this by doing what governments tell them.
And so Google has chosen to worm its way out of this dilemma by, quite simply, accommodating to the wishes of governments - and lying to the people about it.
Now some of my long-time readers might recall that the last time that I had a barney with Google - when, if you believe it, they removed all advertising from a single innocuous page concerning men’s issues on my other website - I had to maraud around for three or four days demonstrating to Google that I would trawl the internet here, there and everywhere in order to spread the news about Google’s heinous activities to whomsoever might seem interested - especially journalists.
And I think that what finally convinced Google to be more accommodating was me pointing out the fact that not only was I, clearly, a very energetic activist, but that rushing around the internet badmouthing Google would do absolute wonders for my site’s traffic - and that, therefore, I would find the experience most rewarding - which meant that I was very unlikely to stop badmouthing Google hither and thither - week after week if necessary.
My ads came back.
Well, it looks as if I am now going to have to create a fuss over www.HarrietHarmanSucks.Com - because its pages have been disappeared into the abyss - having all first appeared for a few days hovering between pages 5 and 20 following a search for “Harriet Harman”
And so my plan is this.
I am going to write a piece about why Google needs to be ‘controlled’ and restricted in some way and explain how outrageous it is that it should have so much power.
And then I am going to start marauding around the internet again.
Because, ….
I will not be censored!
LOL!
(And you can forget all the BS about Google being a private company and so it should be able to de-list or demote whatever pages it likes, because it is illegal for companies to cheat people. And if Google is censoring my pages, then it is cheating the people most horribly!)
The alternative, I suppose, is to re-write the pieces so that they are less ‘hostile’.
Hmmm.
I’ll think about it.
Maybe if I grovelled to Harriet Harman in my pieces instead of castigating her Google would re-list my pages.
Grovel. Grovel.
LOL!
Huh!
I would rather that my missus be torn apart and devoured slowly by a gruesome herd of flesh-eating crocodiles.
(While I watched her writhing in agony, ate ice cream, and chatted to my new girlfriend, of course!)
Anyway. The piece above is very good indeed, and definitely worth reading.
+ We have private companies like Google deciding what we can and can’t see based on their self-interested readings of poorly-drafted national laws, taking advice from unnamed and unaccountable Government agencies and telling nobody what is going on. Bill Thompson
And, of course, this is one of the ways in which western governments intend to stifle dissent.
This is the deal in a nutshell.
Government: “If you, Google, do not disappear from view those most effective pieces that are hostile to us, then we shall bring some kind of law to bear upon you.”
Google: “Yes Sir. No Sir. Three bags full, Sir.”
Government: “But you must not tell the people of this secret deal.”
Google: “Yes Sir. No Sir. Three bags full, Sir.”
There is no question in my mind that this is going on.
And this means that we do not have a democracy.
Of course, Google would not dare to nobble websites that were very influential - because too many influential people might get upset about it.
So, between them, Google and the government keep it all secret and under the carpet.
In other words, as usual, our own governments - and, in this case, Google - are cheating us.
And talk about hypocrisy! - with all our politicians forever criticising the Chinese government for blocking access to websites that are critical of government and its officials, when they are doing something very similar over here.
Indeed, our governments - through their officials - are lying to us all the time.
Furthermore, when, at the time, I did a whole load of research into the matter of ‘adverts’ and the ‘blacklisting’ of them, it became fairly clear to me that the sites that had lost their adverts were mostly on the right side of the political spectrum in that they were often anti-feminist and/or not politically correct.
So, as in so many other areas, my guess is that internet activists who are anti-feminist and/or not politically correct are also having to cope with the customary institutionalised biases against them; but this time, with the aid of Google.
But decent lefties must also be very much concerned about this, firstly, because it might not be too long before those who are pulling the strings are more right-wing and, secondly, because “men’s issues” have precious little to do with being on the left or the right of the political spectrum; because when it come to issues of concern to ‘men’, the official left and right are just as bad as each other.
In other words, all men should be very concerned indeed about Google’s underhand censorship because not only does this undermine the democratic process most seriously, it also means that those activists who are fighting the corner for ‘men’ (rightly or wrongly) are being unfairly treated and that the issues of concern to ‘men’ are - once again - being purposely sat upon and hidden.
News Coverage for Women's Rights Equality Day
1) Deccan Chronicle Coverage
2) Deccan Herald Coverage
3) DNA Mumbai Coverage
4) Fresh News Coverage
5) Jansamacharnet Coverage
6) Mangaloreancom Coverage
7) Netindia123com Coverage
8) Sahara News Coverage
9) TOI Coverage
10) Yahoo News Coverage
11) Webindia123.com Coverage
12) The Indian.com Coverage
13) Newkerala.com Coverage
2) Deccan Herald Coverage
3) DNA Mumbai Coverage
4) Fresh News Coverage
5) Jansamacharnet Coverage
6) Mangaloreancom Coverage
7) Netindia123com Coverage
8) Sahara News Coverage
9) TOI Coverage
10) Yahoo News Coverage
11) Webindia123.com Coverage
12) The Indian.com Coverage
13) Newkerala.com Coverage
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Recognition of women’s rights on Women’s Rights Equality Day August 26, 2008
On the occasion of Women’s Rights Equality Day on 25th August, we would like you to note the harassment and arrests of 1,15,645 women in India in last 4 years under dowry laws (section 498a) without trial or any investigation. This is the worst kind of shameful atrocities committed on women by a nation whose president herself is a woman. Thousands of women are dragged to police stations, harassed, threatened, blackmailed and finally arrested every month. The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must intervene immediately to stop these atrocities on women as the other concerned ministers have failed to address this serious issue.
It is ironic that women are the worst victims of the misuse of dowry laws and all these women are considered “guilty till proven innocent”, which is against the cardinal principles of natural justice. Arrested women include elderly women as old as 92 years to pregnant women to minor girl child going to schools. Is this women’s empowerment?
Hearing our vociferous outrage through protests all over India, Renuka Choudhary, Minister for Women and Children of India invited our representations for discussions on June 25th 2008. We hoped that some common sense will prevail and the arrests will end. All the discussions between our representatives and Renuka Choudhary failed as the minister refused to give any commitments towards stopping these atrocities on innocent women.
It is a national shame that so many women are arrested by laws which are meant to protect women. It is like the fence eating the crop. It’s a pity to note that this destruction of families is happening under the patronage of the Indian Legal System in the barb and paradoxical veil of “Women Empowerment and Protection”.
Although drafted with the sanest of intentions; to provide women with security in a marriage, of late, due to the large number of false cases making their way to courts, the protector’s shield has become the assassin’s weapon. The women NGOs also, who are supposed to be working as watchdogs, have turned into bloodhounds by discriminating between women related to husbands and wives and failing to recognize, empathize and redress the grievances of those fateful mothers and sisters who have been through the ordeal of seeing their son and brother suffering at the hands of an unjust and almost defunct legal system.
Save Indian Family Foundation, an international network of individuals and NGOs, is working for promotion of Gender Equality and Family Harmony, makes a pleading before your Excellency/good office on behalf of the bereaved and beleaguered mothers and sisters, victimized under false allegations of dowry harassment by their daughters –in – law and their advisors/parents, to kindly look into this matter. One complaint from the daughter –in – law lands the whole family including ailing senior citizens, minor children, as well as pregnant women behind bars and ruins their life in a whiff of a moment. All this happens without investigation and in most of the cases, hefty ransoms are demanded to settle the case.
As per National Crime Records Bureau, in the last 4 years, (2004 – 2007), 1, 15, 645 innocent women have been arrested without investigation / trial under 498A cases.
1) Is this women empowerment- that on an unverified complaint of one woman, three women are imprisoned (on an average) and deemed “Guilty until proven innocent”?
2) Umpteen numbers of cases have been found where the girls’ side, filing such complaints were found to be hiding vital facts about the girl and they in fact file these cases when the hidden facts(affairs, diseases, unnatural tendencies and preferences, etc.) are exposed. Has 498A been designed to seek revenge from and harass husband’s family legally?
3) Is the pain of a mother / sister less when she loses a son / brother than when she loses a daughter / sister?
4) As per suicide statistics provided by National Crime Records Bureau, for the years 2005 and 2006, close to 52, 483 and 55, 452 married men, respectively, have committed suicide as opposed to 28, 188 and 29, 869 married women. But yet there is no law to protect our brothers and sons. Why?
5) According to a report by Center for Social Research, there is only 2 % conviction in 498a cases, which means the law is misused to the tune of 98 % and yet it has not been scrapped. This clearly shows the inaction of the government and the apathy meted out to men and their family members, be it a man or a woman in India.
Today on Women’s Rights Equality Day we demand that,
1) Minister of Women and Child Development, Renuka Choudhary should resign having failed miserably in protecting the 1, 15, 645 women arrested without trial / investigation in cases under Section 498A IPC and Jayaprada be made the minister for Women and Child Development.
2) Mothers and sisters of men too are given equal status and their grievances as women are also heard and redressed by State Women Commissions as well as National Commission for Women and the Women and Child Development Ministry.
3) We demand that all cases registered under 498A be properly investigated by a police officer of the level of DCP before making any arrests or registering any complaint the police has written permission from the DCP- in compliance with 1994 Supreme Court Judgment 1994 AIR 1349 SCC (4) 260 Joginder Kumar vs. UOI. It is to be understood that 498a is a serious criminal offense and registering a criminal offense against any person without investigation can lead to serious degradation of the person’s social reputation and irreparable damage to life and career, apart from unfathomable human rights violation and wastage of governmental resources and hence public’s money.
4) Such acts need strong condemnation and the perpetrators of false cases need to be severely punished as they are maligning the system and blocking the path of justice for genuine victims. The State should initiate prosecution suo motu against those found to be misusing laws affecting families and filing false cases under Dowry Harassment laws and Domestic Violence just to realize their personal vendetta.
5) The words man / woman be replaced by person and the words Husband / wife be replaced by spouse to make the laws gender neutral.
6) Our brothers and sons should also get a chance to redress their woes of Domestic Violence by allowing them to make complaints under Domestic Violence Act 2005 amending it to make it gender neutral.
Gender Equality cannot come by way of Gender Discrimination and stereotyped, anachronous and generalised assumptions, which can only help to undermine the spirit and definition of any law. Taking the statements of the girl’s side as “Gospel Truth” reflects sheer lack of jurisprudence and grave inefficiency in implementation of laws on the government’s part, which needs to be rectified with immediate effect so that innocent law abiding citizens do not become a victim of the system made to protect them.
Place: Bangalore Thanking You
Date: 25 August 2008
(Save Indian Family Foundation)
www.saveindianfamily.org
www.savefamily.org
9342853272
9845143724
It is ironic that women are the worst victims of the misuse of dowry laws and all these women are considered “guilty till proven innocent”, which is against the cardinal principles of natural justice. Arrested women include elderly women as old as 92 years to pregnant women to minor girl child going to schools. Is this women’s empowerment?
Hearing our vociferous outrage through protests all over India, Renuka Choudhary, Minister for Women and Children of India invited our representations for discussions on June 25th 2008. We hoped that some common sense will prevail and the arrests will end. All the discussions between our representatives and Renuka Choudhary failed as the minister refused to give any commitments towards stopping these atrocities on innocent women.
It is a national shame that so many women are arrested by laws which are meant to protect women. It is like the fence eating the crop. It’s a pity to note that this destruction of families is happening under the patronage of the Indian Legal System in the barb and paradoxical veil of “Women Empowerment and Protection”.
Although drafted with the sanest of intentions; to provide women with security in a marriage, of late, due to the large number of false cases making their way to courts, the protector’s shield has become the assassin’s weapon. The women NGOs also, who are supposed to be working as watchdogs, have turned into bloodhounds by discriminating between women related to husbands and wives and failing to recognize, empathize and redress the grievances of those fateful mothers and sisters who have been through the ordeal of seeing their son and brother suffering at the hands of an unjust and almost defunct legal system.
Save Indian Family Foundation, an international network of individuals and NGOs, is working for promotion of Gender Equality and Family Harmony, makes a pleading before your Excellency/good office on behalf of the bereaved and beleaguered mothers and sisters, victimized under false allegations of dowry harassment by their daughters –in – law and their advisors/parents, to kindly look into this matter. One complaint from the daughter –in – law lands the whole family including ailing senior citizens, minor children, as well as pregnant women behind bars and ruins their life in a whiff of a moment. All this happens without investigation and in most of the cases, hefty ransoms are demanded to settle the case.
As per National Crime Records Bureau, in the last 4 years, (2004 – 2007), 1, 15, 645 innocent women have been arrested without investigation / trial under 498A cases.
1) Is this women empowerment- that on an unverified complaint of one woman, three women are imprisoned (on an average) and deemed “Guilty until proven innocent”?
2) Umpteen numbers of cases have been found where the girls’ side, filing such complaints were found to be hiding vital facts about the girl and they in fact file these cases when the hidden facts(affairs, diseases, unnatural tendencies and preferences, etc.) are exposed. Has 498A been designed to seek revenge from and harass husband’s family legally?
3) Is the pain of a mother / sister less when she loses a son / brother than when she loses a daughter / sister?
4) As per suicide statistics provided by National Crime Records Bureau, for the years 2005 and 2006, close to 52, 483 and 55, 452 married men, respectively, have committed suicide as opposed to 28, 188 and 29, 869 married women. But yet there is no law to protect our brothers and sons. Why?
5) According to a report by Center for Social Research, there is only 2 % conviction in 498a cases, which means the law is misused to the tune of 98 % and yet it has not been scrapped. This clearly shows the inaction of the government and the apathy meted out to men and their family members, be it a man or a woman in India.
Today on Women’s Rights Equality Day we demand that,
1) Minister of Women and Child Development, Renuka Choudhary should resign having failed miserably in protecting the 1, 15, 645 women arrested without trial / investigation in cases under Section 498A IPC and Jayaprada be made the minister for Women and Child Development.
2) Mothers and sisters of men too are given equal status and their grievances as women are also heard and redressed by State Women Commissions as well as National Commission for Women and the Women and Child Development Ministry.
3) We demand that all cases registered under 498A be properly investigated by a police officer of the level of DCP before making any arrests or registering any complaint the police has written permission from the DCP- in compliance with 1994 Supreme Court Judgment 1994 AIR 1349 SCC (4) 260 Joginder Kumar vs. UOI. It is to be understood that 498a is a serious criminal offense and registering a criminal offense against any person without investigation can lead to serious degradation of the person’s social reputation and irreparable damage to life and career, apart from unfathomable human rights violation and wastage of governmental resources and hence public’s money.
4) Such acts need strong condemnation and the perpetrators of false cases need to be severely punished as they are maligning the system and blocking the path of justice for genuine victims. The State should initiate prosecution suo motu against those found to be misusing laws affecting families and filing false cases under Dowry Harassment laws and Domestic Violence just to realize their personal vendetta.
5) The words man / woman be replaced by person and the words Husband / wife be replaced by spouse to make the laws gender neutral.
6) Our brothers and sons should also get a chance to redress their woes of Domestic Violence by allowing them to make complaints under Domestic Violence Act 2005 amending it to make it gender neutral.
Gender Equality cannot come by way of Gender Discrimination and stereotyped, anachronous and generalised assumptions, which can only help to undermine the spirit and definition of any law. Taking the statements of the girl’s side as “Gospel Truth” reflects sheer lack of jurisprudence and grave inefficiency in implementation of laws on the government’s part, which needs to be rectified with immediate effect so that innocent law abiding citizens do not become a victim of the system made to protect them.
Place: Bangalore Thanking You
Date: 25 August 2008
(Save Indian Family Foundation)
www.saveindianfamily.org
www.savefamily.org
9342853272
9845143724
Yes I demanded dowry, but never got it
All the characters referred to below are fictitious and bear no resemblance with anyone living or dead whatsoever. Any co-incidence is purely co-incidental and unintentional.
Dowry? A sensational word, isn’t it? Evokes strong emotions for the ‘married woman’. Unlawful demands from the husband’s side to the bride’s side like a scooter, car, fridge, cash, jewels, etc. etc. Seems like a scene straight from a social cinema, depicting the ‘married woman’ as a liability. This is what the media has always represented dowry and dowry seeking money mongers as, and so this is what the society has come to know of it.
But the definition of dowry is far wider than that entailed above as put in Indian Penal Code Section 498A as any ‘unlawful demand’ made by husband and / or his relatives. But what is ‘unlawful’ has not been described. It has been left to anyone’s imagination and depends on the intensity of the ‘married woman’s’ tears at time of the complaint.
The other day I happened to meet Jignesh, who has been accused under section 498A for allegedly making ‘unlawful demand’ to his wife. So I happened to chat with him as to what was the need to make any ‘unlawful demand’ from his wife when he himself earned a handsome salary working with an MNC at a prestigious position? Excerpts of my chat with him,
Me: “Well sad to know that you are facing criminal charges, but I fail to understand that when you are yourself so well placed, what made you demand?”
Jignesh: “So you seem to have decided the verdict yourself as is evident from your question.”
Me: “Hey man, I did not mean that.”
Jignesh: “It’s OK, am used to it, but it is a truth that I demanded dowry from her. You heard it right, Yes I demanded dowry but never got it.”
Me: “I see. Do you mind sharing your demands?”
Jignesh: “Not at all. I demanded our cultural values from her; I demanded as much respect from her for my parents, as I have for her parents. I demanded support from her to build my family. I demanded a feeling of oneness with contemporaries and love for the young ones in our family. I demanded restraint and patience to understand each other to build a stronger familial foundation. I demanded an anticipated expectation to be as much loyal and faithful to me as I am to her. Since she and her parents, especially her mom did not have all these, they thought these demands were ‘unlawful ‘, and filed a case on me and my innocent family under Section 498A IPC.”
Me: “I see. Hats off to you and sorry once again for that question, it was just framed badly, not intended that way.”
Jignesh: “That is fine; this is the pill society gives to victims of 498A, the Anti – dowry law. But I have no qualms in saying that I demanded dowry, for if what I demanded amounts to dowry in today’s era of Woman Protection and Woman Empowerment, then so be it. After all times are changing. Definitions of 1960 cannot work today.”
Dowry? A sensational word, isn’t it? Evokes strong emotions for the ‘married woman’. Unlawful demands from the husband’s side to the bride’s side like a scooter, car, fridge, cash, jewels, etc. etc. Seems like a scene straight from a social cinema, depicting the ‘married woman’ as a liability. This is what the media has always represented dowry and dowry seeking money mongers as, and so this is what the society has come to know of it.
But the definition of dowry is far wider than that entailed above as put in Indian Penal Code Section 498A as any ‘unlawful demand’ made by husband and / or his relatives. But what is ‘unlawful’ has not been described. It has been left to anyone’s imagination and depends on the intensity of the ‘married woman’s’ tears at time of the complaint.
The other day I happened to meet Jignesh, who has been accused under section 498A for allegedly making ‘unlawful demand’ to his wife. So I happened to chat with him as to what was the need to make any ‘unlawful demand’ from his wife when he himself earned a handsome salary working with an MNC at a prestigious position? Excerpts of my chat with him,
Me: “Well sad to know that you are facing criminal charges, but I fail to understand that when you are yourself so well placed, what made you demand?”
Jignesh: “So you seem to have decided the verdict yourself as is evident from your question.”
Me: “Hey man, I did not mean that.”
Jignesh: “It’s OK, am used to it, but it is a truth that I demanded dowry from her. You heard it right, Yes I demanded dowry but never got it.”
Me: “I see. Do you mind sharing your demands?”
Jignesh: “Not at all. I demanded our cultural values from her; I demanded as much respect from her for my parents, as I have for her parents. I demanded support from her to build my family. I demanded a feeling of oneness with contemporaries and love for the young ones in our family. I demanded restraint and patience to understand each other to build a stronger familial foundation. I demanded an anticipated expectation to be as much loyal and faithful to me as I am to her. Since she and her parents, especially her mom did not have all these, they thought these demands were ‘unlawful ‘, and filed a case on me and my innocent family under Section 498A IPC.”
Me: “I see. Hats off to you and sorry once again for that question, it was just framed badly, not intended that way.”
Jignesh: “That is fine; this is the pill society gives to victims of 498A, the Anti – dowry law. But I have no qualms in saying that I demanded dowry, for if what I demanded amounts to dowry in today’s era of Woman Protection and Woman Empowerment, then so be it. After all times are changing. Definitions of 1960 cannot work today.”
Save the Society
1 in 6 persons in Delhi is Likely to face 498a (Dowry) Law soon, which is not simple as Law is arrest without investigations, non Bailable.
Ministry of Women and child development is currently in the process of talking to organizations fighting to stop misuse of Dowry and other women protection Laws. Some of these groups are demanding that Section 498a, Indian Penal Code (Dowry Law) should be applicable only to husbands and not to his relatives; also it should be made non - cognizable so that arrests are made only after investigations. Recently Gender Human Rights Society Regd. was called on 1st Aug, and on 18th Aug MASI (Mothers and sisters Initiative Regd.) a women organization fighting for preventing misuse of women protection Laws is invited.
Some foreign (UNAID) funded Women organizations are writing to ministry that ministry should not talk to men organizations for reasons best known to them. They do not want a balanced family system to exist in India as it is the greatest impediment to their impeachment policies aimed at large scale destruction of Indian society and culture. Whereas non funded organizations like Gender Human Rights society Regd. strongly say the demand that ministry should not talk to men is absurd, and a foreign trick to harm India. Marriage is a social institution run by both men and women and hence the views of both the sides need to be taken into due consideration.
With 1 in 6 persons in Delhi alone likely to face 498a (Dowry LAW) complaint, the arrest without investigation, non Bailable can lead to mass misuse of law and legal terrorism unleashed on them. A significant population is already suffering, and all over India non funded organizations are being formed to amend this Law as the government has turned its blind eye and deaf ear to the sufferings of lacs of people suffering from misuse of dowry related and other women protection laws. About 86 % of women in Delhi Tihar Jail are due to Dowry Law, so this Law is harming everyone including women.
Also Domestic Violence Act, 2005 should be reviewed, the organizations are asking. They say DV law in effect from Oct 2006 is totally one sided, and can be used to throw men, of joint family, out of their own houses. Even Supreme Court has said that DV Law is loosely drafted, and including houses of Relatives of husbands in the DV Law can lead to social chaos. A renowned Delhi High court Judge in his detailed judgment on DV Law has said this new Law has a perfect recipe for social disaster.
Sandeep Bhartia, president of Gender Human Rights Society (Regd.) says there are 40 new Law proposals for women in pipeline under influence from foreign countries funding radical and one sided women organizations. In order to prevent a fatherless society in creation and reinstate gender harmony, these new Law proposals should involve Judges also as Judges are difficult to be influenced by foreign funding. Also they have given written requests to the ministries to involve organizations fighting for preventing misuse of women protection laws in the Law drafting process by the ministry.
A third of children in some countries are already being harmed by fatherless families, let’s not let that happen in India. let’s stop well funded radical feminists by involving neutral organizations and Judges in the Law drafting process by the WCD ministry.
Looks like the war between well funded Radical Feminists organizations and others non funded organizations is just beginning, we should tread this path carefully for the betterment of society .
Ministry of Women and child development is currently in the process of talking to organizations fighting to stop misuse of Dowry and other women protection Laws. Some of these groups are demanding that Section 498a, Indian Penal Code (Dowry Law) should be applicable only to husbands and not to his relatives; also it should be made non - cognizable so that arrests are made only after investigations. Recently Gender Human Rights Society Regd. was called on 1st Aug, and on 18th Aug MASI (Mothers and sisters Initiative Regd.) a women organization fighting for preventing misuse of women protection Laws is invited.
Some foreign (UNAID) funded Women organizations are writing to ministry that ministry should not talk to men organizations for reasons best known to them. They do not want a balanced family system to exist in India as it is the greatest impediment to their impeachment policies aimed at large scale destruction of Indian society and culture. Whereas non funded organizations like Gender Human Rights society Regd. strongly say the demand that ministry should not talk to men is absurd, and a foreign trick to harm India. Marriage is a social institution run by both men and women and hence the views of both the sides need to be taken into due consideration.
With 1 in 6 persons in Delhi alone likely to face 498a (Dowry LAW) complaint, the arrest without investigation, non Bailable can lead to mass misuse of law and legal terrorism unleashed on them. A significant population is already suffering, and all over India non funded organizations are being formed to amend this Law as the government has turned its blind eye and deaf ear to the sufferings of lacs of people suffering from misuse of dowry related and other women protection laws. About 86 % of women in Delhi Tihar Jail are due to Dowry Law, so this Law is harming everyone including women.
Also Domestic Violence Act, 2005 should be reviewed, the organizations are asking. They say DV law in effect from Oct 2006 is totally one sided, and can be used to throw men, of joint family, out of their own houses. Even Supreme Court has said that DV Law is loosely drafted, and including houses of Relatives of husbands in the DV Law can lead to social chaos. A renowned Delhi High court Judge in his detailed judgment on DV Law has said this new Law has a perfect recipe for social disaster.
Sandeep Bhartia, president of Gender Human Rights Society (Regd.) says there are 40 new Law proposals for women in pipeline under influence from foreign countries funding radical and one sided women organizations. In order to prevent a fatherless society in creation and reinstate gender harmony, these new Law proposals should involve Judges also as Judges are difficult to be influenced by foreign funding. Also they have given written requests to the ministries to involve organizations fighting for preventing misuse of women protection laws in the Law drafting process by the ministry.
A third of children in some countries are already being harmed by fatherless families, let’s not let that happen in India. let’s stop well funded radical feminists by involving neutral organizations and Judges in the Law drafting process by the WCD ministry.
Looks like the war between well funded Radical Feminists organizations and others non funded organizations is just beginning, we should tread this path carefully for the betterment of society .
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Retrospective Clause in DV - Strategy
Well guys the retrospectiveness of DV has been a controversial topic of late. And the law being silent about it, the judiciary uses it to its own whims and fancies most of the times which are biased against men. Alleged acts of violence committed prior to 26th Oct 2006, the day the devilish DV law came in effect, are made part of petition and cases are getting registered.
But retrospectiveness in law is a serious issue and allowing retrospective matters in admittance of cases can have serious implications. As technological advances follows Murphy’s rule, newer dangers are also getting exposed and newer legal provisions can also come into effect. What was legal now can be illegal later, so do we book all those persons who committed a hitherto legal, but hence illegal action deemed as offense? Rationally and logically, No.
Coming back to DV, prior to it being enacted, calling names to wives was not an offense and some husband might have called his wife with some name, either out of love and affection or in a fit of anger, which even the wife must have done. But since DV outlines it as an offense only for the husband, allowing retrospective clause in DV law, all wives can book their husbands under DV and 100 % marriages will break. So retrospective clause is not healthy from a social and a futuristic standpoint of legal consideration.
Again arguing that DV does not attract penal consequences and the same arise only when protection order is violated and that offense will not be retrospective, then it must be remembered that in first place, case should not have registered, so no protection order should have been passed. So no possibility of commission of offense if retrospective clause is not defined for DV. But since the court has allowed it, it is also an equal party to the offense and should share the penalty!!! What an absurdity?
http://judis.nic.in/chennai/qrydisp.asp?tfnm=13665
Hence taking a cue from the above judgment and using the aforesaid logic, we can develop a strong petition to challenge retrospectiveness of DV and challenge any such summons under 397 CrPC and bring the case to a halt.
But retrospectiveness in law is a serious issue and allowing retrospective matters in admittance of cases can have serious implications. As technological advances follows Murphy’s rule, newer dangers are also getting exposed and newer legal provisions can also come into effect. What was legal now can be illegal later, so do we book all those persons who committed a hitherto legal, but hence illegal action deemed as offense? Rationally and logically, No.
Coming back to DV, prior to it being enacted, calling names to wives was not an offense and some husband might have called his wife with some name, either out of love and affection or in a fit of anger, which even the wife must have done. But since DV outlines it as an offense only for the husband, allowing retrospective clause in DV law, all wives can book their husbands under DV and 100 % marriages will break. So retrospective clause is not healthy from a social and a futuristic standpoint of legal consideration.
Again arguing that DV does not attract penal consequences and the same arise only when protection order is violated and that offense will not be retrospective, then it must be remembered that in first place, case should not have registered, so no protection order should have been passed. So no possibility of commission of offense if retrospective clause is not defined for DV. But since the court has allowed it, it is also an equal party to the offense and should share the penalty!!! What an absurdity?
http://judis.nic.in/chennai/qrydisp.asp?tfnm=13665
Hence taking a cue from the above judgment and using the aforesaid logic, we can develop a strong petition to challenge retrospectiveness of DV and challenge any such summons under 397 CrPC and bring the case to a halt.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Anti, Pro and Neutral
On a barefoot analysis, we get three kinds of people to deal with,
1) Anti people, who are staunch male haters and always portray women as victims aka the Feminists,
2) The pro people who understand the intentions of feminists and blatantly oppose them, and are mostly feminists hit by feminism and converted to the other extreme of the bandwidth aka the SIFFIANS, and
3) The neutral people who mostly live in a dream world designed by the anti ones and continue to believe women are victims.
We need to have different techniques to deal with all the three categories. Feminist often feign ignorance and bliss about women being perpetrators of violence and at the back side keep on spreading the poison in the society with the help of the unfortunate power lobby that they enjoy. When confronted with the poisoning it is again the same old technique they apply, put allegations on the confronter and allow him to defend.
We have to very careful in that. Not to fall into the allegations trap and keep bashing them till they are finished or converted. Stronger souls will have to be finished, weaker ones we can convert to our side and strengthen ourselves in both the scenarios.
Neutral people are also anti per se as they mostly believe what feminists say and even if they seem somewhat convinced when we give the statistics to them, they have the ever hanging historical background, that girls were always harassed and subdued in the past and blah blah blah; again the credit goes to feminists for the same.
For neutral people we will need data not only to show them the other side, harassed men, but also how women can be harmful and real challenge is converting the neutral people. The day we can reach out effortlessly to the neutral people and make them pros, we will have the mass with us. Today as the mass is not with us, only those getting converted to pros with a stroke of misfortune coming to us, a silent wish is for the misuse to increase so that we can gather amass.
But morally and ethically this technique should be despised as it takes to break an entire family to get one pro. Bad deal I would say. Rather having gained 4 years of experience we should now target to methods of converting neutral to pros and finishing the anti ones.
1) Anti people, who are staunch male haters and always portray women as victims aka the Feminists,
2) The pro people who understand the intentions of feminists and blatantly oppose them, and are mostly feminists hit by feminism and converted to the other extreme of the bandwidth aka the SIFFIANS, and
3) The neutral people who mostly live in a dream world designed by the anti ones and continue to believe women are victims.
We need to have different techniques to deal with all the three categories. Feminist often feign ignorance and bliss about women being perpetrators of violence and at the back side keep on spreading the poison in the society with the help of the unfortunate power lobby that they enjoy. When confronted with the poisoning it is again the same old technique they apply, put allegations on the confronter and allow him to defend.
We have to very careful in that. Not to fall into the allegations trap and keep bashing them till they are finished or converted. Stronger souls will have to be finished, weaker ones we can convert to our side and strengthen ourselves in both the scenarios.
Neutral people are also anti per se as they mostly believe what feminists say and even if they seem somewhat convinced when we give the statistics to them, they have the ever hanging historical background, that girls were always harassed and subdued in the past and blah blah blah; again the credit goes to feminists for the same.
For neutral people we will need data not only to show them the other side, harassed men, but also how women can be harmful and real challenge is converting the neutral people. The day we can reach out effortlessly to the neutral people and make them pros, we will have the mass with us. Today as the mass is not with us, only those getting converted to pros with a stroke of misfortune coming to us, a silent wish is for the misuse to increase so that we can gather amass.
But morally and ethically this technique should be despised as it takes to break an entire family to get one pro. Bad deal I would say. Rather having gained 4 years of experience we should now target to methods of converting neutral to pros and finishing the anti ones.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Recognition of women’s rights on Women’s Rights Equality Day August 26, 2008
To,
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Sub: Recognition of women’s rights on Women’s Rights Equality Day August 26, 2008
Respected Sir / Madam,
On the occasion of Women’s Rights Equality Day we would like to draw your attention towards a topic gaining momentum in all strata, be it the media, society, or the legislative or executive environment - the ‘Wide and Rampant misuse of Women Protection Laws vide section 498A Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 leading to mass destruction of the social fabric and familial system of India. It’s a pity to note that this destruction of families is happening under the patronage of the Indian Legal System in the barb and paradoxical veil of “Women Empowerment and Protection”.
Although drafted with the sanest of intentions; to provide women with security in a marriage, of late, due to the large number of false cases making their way to courts, the protector’s shield has become the assassin’s weapon. The women NGOs also, who are supposed to be working as watchdogs, have turned into bloodhounds by discriminating between women related to husbands and wives and failing to recognize, empathize and redress the grievances of those fateful mothers and sisters who have been through the ordeal of seeing their son and brother suffering at the hands of an unjust and almost defunct legal system.
Save Indian Family Foundation, an international network of individuals and NGOs, is working for promotion of Gender Equality and Family Harmony, makes a pleading before your Excellency/good office on behalf of the bereaved and beleaguered mothers and sisters, victimized under false allegations of dowry harassment by their daughters –in – law and their advisors/parents, to kindly look into this matter. One complaint from the daughter –in – law lands the whole family including ailing senior citizens, minor children, as well as pregnant women behind bars and ruins their life in a whiff of a moment. All this happens without investigation and in most of the cases, hefty ransoms are demanded to settle the case.
As per National Crime Records Bureau, in the last 4 years, (2004 – 2007), 1, 20, 645 innocent women have been arrested without investigation / trial under 498A cases.
1) Is this women empowerment- that on an unverified complaint of one woman, three women are imprisoned (on an average) and deemed “Guilty until proven innocent”?
2) Umpteen numbers of cases have been found where the girls’ side, filing such complaints were found to be hiding vital facts about the girl and they in fact file these cases when the hidden facts(affairs, diseases, unnatural tendencies and preferences, etc.) are exposed. Has 498A been designed to seek revenge from and harass husband’s family legally?
3) Is the pain of a mother / sister less when she loses a son / brother than when she loses a daughter / sister?
4) As per suicide statistics provided by National Crime Records Bureau, for the years 2005 and 2006, close to 52, 483 and 55, 452 married men, respectively, have committed suicide as opposed to 28, 188 and 29, 869 married women. But yet there is no law to protect our brothers and sons. Why?
5) According to a report by Center for Social Research, there is only 2 % conviction in 498a cases, which means the law is misused to the tune of 98 % and yet it has not been scrapped. This clearly shows the inaction of the government and the apathy meted out to men and their family members, be it a man or a woman in India.
Today on Women’s Rights Equality Day we demand that,
1) Mothers and sisters of men too are given equal status and their grievances as women are also heard and redressed by State Women Commissions as well as National Commission for Women and the Women and Child Development Ministry.
2) We demand that all cases registered under 498A be properly investigated by a police officer of the level of DCP before making any arrests or registering any complaint the police has written permission from the DCP- in compliance with 1994 Supreme Court Judgment 1994 AIR 1349 SCC (4) 260 Joginder Kumar vs. UOI. It is to be understood that 498a is a serious criminal offense and registering a criminal offense against any person without investigation can lead to serious degradation of the person’s social reputation and irreparable damage to life and career, apart from unfathomable human rights violation and wastage of governmental resources and hence public’s money.
3) Such acts need strong condemnation and the perpetrators of false cases need to be severely punished as they are maligning the system and blocking the path of justice for genuine victims. The State should initiate prosecution suo motu against those found to be misusing laws affecting families.
Gender Equality cannot come by way of Gender Discrimination and stereotyped, anachronous and generalised assumptions, which can only help to undermine the spirit and definition of any law. Taking the statements of the girl’s side as “Gospel Truth” reflects sheer lack of jurisprudence and grave inefficiency in implementation of laws on the government’s part, which needs to be rectified with immediate effect.
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Sub: Recognition of women’s rights on Women’s Rights Equality Day August 26, 2008
Respected Sir / Madam,
On the occasion of Women’s Rights Equality Day we would like to draw your attention towards a topic gaining momentum in all strata, be it the media, society, or the legislative or executive environment - the ‘Wide and Rampant misuse of Women Protection Laws vide section 498A Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 leading to mass destruction of the social fabric and familial system of India. It’s a pity to note that this destruction of families is happening under the patronage of the Indian Legal System in the barb and paradoxical veil of “Women Empowerment and Protection”.
Although drafted with the sanest of intentions; to provide women with security in a marriage, of late, due to the large number of false cases making their way to courts, the protector’s shield has become the assassin’s weapon. The women NGOs also, who are supposed to be working as watchdogs, have turned into bloodhounds by discriminating between women related to husbands and wives and failing to recognize, empathize and redress the grievances of those fateful mothers and sisters who have been through the ordeal of seeing their son and brother suffering at the hands of an unjust and almost defunct legal system.
Save Indian Family Foundation, an international network of individuals and NGOs, is working for promotion of Gender Equality and Family Harmony, makes a pleading before your Excellency/good office on behalf of the bereaved and beleaguered mothers and sisters, victimized under false allegations of dowry harassment by their daughters –in – law and their advisors/parents, to kindly look into this matter. One complaint from the daughter –in – law lands the whole family including ailing senior citizens, minor children, as well as pregnant women behind bars and ruins their life in a whiff of a moment. All this happens without investigation and in most of the cases, hefty ransoms are demanded to settle the case.
As per National Crime Records Bureau, in the last 4 years, (2004 – 2007), 1, 20, 645 innocent women have been arrested without investigation / trial under 498A cases.
1) Is this women empowerment- that on an unverified complaint of one woman, three women are imprisoned (on an average) and deemed “Guilty until proven innocent”?
2) Umpteen numbers of cases have been found where the girls’ side, filing such complaints were found to be hiding vital facts about the girl and they in fact file these cases when the hidden facts(affairs, diseases, unnatural tendencies and preferences, etc.) are exposed. Has 498A been designed to seek revenge from and harass husband’s family legally?
3) Is the pain of a mother / sister less when she loses a son / brother than when she loses a daughter / sister?
4) As per suicide statistics provided by National Crime Records Bureau, for the years 2005 and 2006, close to 52, 483 and 55, 452 married men, respectively, have committed suicide as opposed to 28, 188 and 29, 869 married women. But yet there is no law to protect our brothers and sons. Why?
5) According to a report by Center for Social Research, there is only 2 % conviction in 498a cases, which means the law is misused to the tune of 98 % and yet it has not been scrapped. This clearly shows the inaction of the government and the apathy meted out to men and their family members, be it a man or a woman in India.
Today on Women’s Rights Equality Day we demand that,
1) Mothers and sisters of men too are given equal status and their grievances as women are also heard and redressed by State Women Commissions as well as National Commission for Women and the Women and Child Development Ministry.
2) We demand that all cases registered under 498A be properly investigated by a police officer of the level of DCP before making any arrests or registering any complaint the police has written permission from the DCP- in compliance with 1994 Supreme Court Judgment 1994 AIR 1349 SCC (4) 260 Joginder Kumar vs. UOI. It is to be understood that 498a is a serious criminal offense and registering a criminal offense against any person without investigation can lead to serious degradation of the person’s social reputation and irreparable damage to life and career, apart from unfathomable human rights violation and wastage of governmental resources and hence public’s money.
3) Such acts need strong condemnation and the perpetrators of false cases need to be severely punished as they are maligning the system and blocking the path of justice for genuine victims. The State should initiate prosecution suo motu against those found to be misusing laws affecting families.
Gender Equality cannot come by way of Gender Discrimination and stereotyped, anachronous and generalised assumptions, which can only help to undermine the spirit and definition of any law. Taking the statements of the girl’s side as “Gospel Truth” reflects sheer lack of jurisprudence and grave inefficiency in implementation of laws on the government’s part, which needs to be rectified with immediate effect.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Women Protection vs. Women Empowerment
Alimony in divorces is a serious issue these days. Huge alimonies have stripped men of their finances in the West and this trend is slowly catching in India as well with the growing number of divorces. Recent studies in Mumbai showed that 40 % of marriages end in divorce. In Delhi, every day on an average 10 divorce cases are filed. And in majority of these cases men are ordered to pay alimony as they say alimony in divorce is a positive step towards “Women Empowerment” by making them financially independent. But alimony as a provision in divorce is despicable and subject to serious condemnation for many reasons underlined here,
1) Arranged Marriage in India is a communal decision and takes place as a result of the involvement of society elders, common friends and the parents of both the boy and the girl. Hence when the relation fails to work and ends in a divorce, the husband should not be the only one paying.
2) If it is a love marriage then both the adults are equally responsible and the man should not be the only one paying the price.
3) Alimony is the biggest motivator for women to file a divorce and stop making attempts to save the marriage. Also parents of girls, when they see the marriage is not working, encourage their daughters to move towards divorce in lieu of hefty alimony.
4) Due to the overwhelming and impending burden of alimony, married men in India continue to suffer in a bad marriage and refrain from buying a costly piece of paper called, ‘Divorce’ which results in higher stress levels for men and also higher suicide rates among Indian married men.
In line with the feminism that created waves in the 70s in the West, harsh, lopsided and severely anti – male laws were drafted in India in the name of Women Protection. And at the same time alimony was encouraged in the name of Women Empowerment. Today we have six laws quintessentially achieving the same objective of Women Protection and Women Empowerment in tandem.
But the basic ideology where the law makers, the society living with those laws and the media sleeping in deep slumber, not to protest against the loopholes in the laws and their implementation, fluttered is that, Protection and Empowerment can never go hand in hand. We don’t need to protect an empowered lot, hence when alimony was already provided for Women Empowerment, Women Protection was a redundancy. And if that was not the case then alimony as a means to Empower Women has failed miserably and has rather proved as a “Marriage Breaker” as reflected in a recent statement by renowned Supreme Court justice Arijit Pasayath that the Hindu Marriage Act has broken more families than joining them.
The statements seems more than apt. Though Hindu Marriage Act has provisions for saving as well breaking marriage, the one breaking marriage is more famous i.e. divorce. The section for saving marriage, Section 9 – Restitution of Conjugal Rights is a dead letter section of the Hindu Marriage Act which quintessentially trivializes the Indian culture of saving marriage, but sadly enough it is not only a lesser known section, it is non – executable as well, which means the court cannot enforce an order passed in this section.
Due to such reasons divorces are increasing day by day and the institution of marriage is slowly dying out. The government which barely manages to gather oxygen enough to survive in wake of recent turmoil and power tussle at the center has little / no time to look into this matter, impending over the society as a social catastrophe. The society, whose very existence is subject to strict proof with everyone in the society considering everyone else other than oneself as the society, with its paradoxical veil of technological advancement conveniently, chooses to ignore the victims of a bad marriage. The media, whose hunger for sensationalism is self – feeding, considers only the women as humans, raising its voice for women at every sneeze and whiff, is simply catalyzing a gender divide in the society and nothing else.
In view of the all the above contentions and discussions, yet it remains a question, whether Empowerment and Protection can go hand in hand? Let the stalwarts answer this.
1) Arranged Marriage in India is a communal decision and takes place as a result of the involvement of society elders, common friends and the parents of both the boy and the girl. Hence when the relation fails to work and ends in a divorce, the husband should not be the only one paying.
2) If it is a love marriage then both the adults are equally responsible and the man should not be the only one paying the price.
3) Alimony is the biggest motivator for women to file a divorce and stop making attempts to save the marriage. Also parents of girls, when they see the marriage is not working, encourage their daughters to move towards divorce in lieu of hefty alimony.
4) Due to the overwhelming and impending burden of alimony, married men in India continue to suffer in a bad marriage and refrain from buying a costly piece of paper called, ‘Divorce’ which results in higher stress levels for men and also higher suicide rates among Indian married men.
In line with the feminism that created waves in the 70s in the West, harsh, lopsided and severely anti – male laws were drafted in India in the name of Women Protection. And at the same time alimony was encouraged in the name of Women Empowerment. Today we have six laws quintessentially achieving the same objective of Women Protection and Women Empowerment in tandem.
But the basic ideology where the law makers, the society living with those laws and the media sleeping in deep slumber, not to protest against the loopholes in the laws and their implementation, fluttered is that, Protection and Empowerment can never go hand in hand. We don’t need to protect an empowered lot, hence when alimony was already provided for Women Empowerment, Women Protection was a redundancy. And if that was not the case then alimony as a means to Empower Women has failed miserably and has rather proved as a “Marriage Breaker” as reflected in a recent statement by renowned Supreme Court justice Arijit Pasayath that the Hindu Marriage Act has broken more families than joining them.
The statements seems more than apt. Though Hindu Marriage Act has provisions for saving as well breaking marriage, the one breaking marriage is more famous i.e. divorce. The section for saving marriage, Section 9 – Restitution of Conjugal Rights is a dead letter section of the Hindu Marriage Act which quintessentially trivializes the Indian culture of saving marriage, but sadly enough it is not only a lesser known section, it is non – executable as well, which means the court cannot enforce an order passed in this section.
Due to such reasons divorces are increasing day by day and the institution of marriage is slowly dying out. The government which barely manages to gather oxygen enough to survive in wake of recent turmoil and power tussle at the center has little / no time to look into this matter, impending over the society as a social catastrophe. The society, whose very existence is subject to strict proof with everyone in the society considering everyone else other than oneself as the society, with its paradoxical veil of technological advancement conveniently, chooses to ignore the victims of a bad marriage. The media, whose hunger for sensationalism is self – feeding, considers only the women as humans, raising its voice for women at every sneeze and whiff, is simply catalyzing a gender divide in the society and nothing else.
In view of the all the above contentions and discussions, yet it remains a question, whether Empowerment and Protection can go hand in hand? Let the stalwarts answer this.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Only the wearer knows, where the shoe pinches
As the old saying goes, “Only the wearer knows, where the shoe pinches”, it fairly beautifully applies to the general attitude of people living in today’s society as well. The current society is plagued with innumerable problems ranging from lackluster attitude of civic authorities, to corrupt government officials to declining mental peace to eroding familial values to spreading terror in the society. But is anyone listening, is anyone bothered, does anybody have any time to devote to one of the problem areas that the society is facing and do something to at least create an awareness for it, if not make an attempt to solve it.
Everyone expects the garbage to be cleaned up by someone else conveniently ignoring certain basic facts that each one of us is, in some way or the other, responsible for the garbage. The society finds a very easy escape route of any problem that comes. There are basically three things that everyone in the society, in general, does to address a problem,
1) Ignore the problem,
2) Let the problem happen till a maxima is reached, and
3) Think that this problem is not going to hit me.
Unfortunately all the three approaches act as a positive catalyst in nourishing the monster that loves to devour the succor in the society. Pigmenting the core of problems with a plastic smile allows it to grow in isolation, assume an incurable form and steal nutrition from the same society that protects it like a parasite residing in a host.
Only those people are seen doing something to create awareness in the society, the ones who are badly smitten by some or the other problem in the society and even there the ratio of the total number of suffering people and those actually working to eradicate it maddeningly high. Only when the cornering and suffering grows beyond all tolerable levels within reasonable limits, do some people come forward to take the plunge into the dumping ground called ‘Society’ to cleanse it. Even then a majority of people think of suicide as a solution to end their problems.
One such reflection of incidences can be found in the alarmingly high number of suicides by married men of late. It is a well – known and an established fact that in any marital dispute the sentimental balance of the law, law – makers and law – executioners lies with the female partner as opposed to the male partner. With increasing number of false dowry harassment and domestic violence coming to forth and the number of divorces also rising alarmingly, it is no wonder that each year 56, 000 married men are committing suicides as opposed to 27, 000 married women.
The situation being so pathetic and despicable, yet do we see anyone doing anything about it. No. Even those who are affected by it want a quick fix and want others to do something about it. And those who are not affected by it have at most a few words of sympathy for them and nothing else. Save Indian Family Foundation, the largest and the only NGO in India, fighting for ‘Gender Equity’ and ‘Family Harmony’ receives over 200 distress calls from battered and shattered men all over India over its various help lines. But how many of them are ready to volunteer for a fight to eradicate this social evil of “Misuse of Women Protection Laws”. A discouragingly small number of a few hundreds.
More recently we had a spate of unfortunate and merciless terror attacks in the form of 8 low intensity serial blasts in Bangalore and 19 high intensity ones in Ahmadabad and 2 futile attempts in Surat. Analysis puts it as a total failure on part of the intelligence and surveillance agencies compounded with a condemnable low preparedness of the state governments in dealing with such situations. And these blasts are not something new. We had quite a number of them in the last few years be it Lucknow, Delhi or Malegaon. And yet such a big intelligence lapse!
But who is bothered? Everyone thinks as long as we are safe, nothing needs to be done. And truly no one will do anything either. People will discuss for a few days (perhaps I hope so, or maybe I am over – optimistic), media channels will run the stories for a few days, electronic and print media shall cover the event till they get something more sensational and then life will carry on as usual.
Even those terrorists who do this, know very well, that nothing is gonna happen and this fact is the largest confidence – booster for them. So this question goes to the society that be it the case of any problem, does it still want to wait till the lightning strikes it or is it ready to sensitize itself to sense over – impending social catastrophes and take steps to shatter its impact? Only the wearer should not know the pinch.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Marriage - The other side of the coin
Marital problems have started contributing to stress in a very big way. Day in and day out we hear people succumbing to marital problems with the growing numbers of suicides among married people especially males. As per suicide statistics provided by National Crime Records Bureau, for the years 2005 and 2006, close to 52, 000 and 56, 000 married men committed suicide respectively. And the same years noted a splurge in the number of dowry harassment cases filed as reflected in the number of such cases filed – 58319 and 63128. Coupled with that, if a study conducted by Center for Social Research on the conviction rate of such cases is anything to go by, it shockingly reveals that there is only 2 % conviction in such cases. This means 98 % of such cases are false, and thus a false claim of dowry harassment was made.
Not only that, based on that false statement, the husband and his entire family was arrested, put behind bars, made to cough out huge amounts to get a bail and had no choice but to fight a legal battle in an otherwise defunct and dead judicial outreach and was also subjected to malicious prosecution. For the charge of dowry harassment being false, the concocted stories of alleged torture would also bear no ground. Having thus said, section 498A IPC, being heavily misused has actually turned out into an assassin’s weapon rather a protector’s shield as rightly pointed out by the Honorable Supreme Court of India. Instead of making families, it is breaking families, for any woman who has falsely implicated her husband and in – laws in a false criminal case has lost their trust and the marriage has been dead for all practical purposes.
A recent study in Mumbai claimed 40 % of marriages registered in Mumbai end in a divorce. And most of such cases involve filing of a false dowry case in order to get a quick divorce with a hefty alimony. Unscrupulous girls, supported by ill – minded parents, especially mother, pampered by a biased legal system who is highly de – sensitized to husbands (read married men) have found this as a very easy way to earn tax – free money. And to add to that all of those so called marriages have been performed on some auspicious date / time in consultation with some purohit / pundit etc.
When marriages could last so strongly for ages down the memory lane, and those too were conducted on some auspicious date / time in consultation with some purohit / pundit etc., what has changed so drastically in recent times that marriages have become a source of business opportunity for women and a source of ignominy and stress for men? Save Indian Family Foundation, the single largest NGO committed to the cause of spreading the message of Gender Equity and Family Harmony in addition to providing free legal, moral and psychological support to the victims of false dowry harassment and Domestic Violence cases, receives on an average of 200 calls a week over its various help lines spread all over India and abroad as well from battered and harassed men who are either victims of the misuse of these laws or are subjected to Domestic Violence at the hands of their wives.
Have we come of the time to consult a lawyer rather than a pundit or a purohit to decide a marital knot? Especially a male does need to do so before tying the knot. For if the marriage does not work (which is quite possible in today’s dynamic socio – economic scenario), he will have to bear the brunt of the fallacy. A false case lodged with the help of the corrupt police force, sleeping judiciary and mercenary lawyers robs the man of his health, wealth, life, career and happiness. Even with a low conviction rate, the mental trauma that the man and his family including his mother and sisters and his father and other relatives undergo cannot be described in words and is by no means less than actual conviction.
But does life end there? Is the end of marriage, the end of life? Perhaps yes, but probably no. Looking at the alarmingly high and surprisingly suppressed suicide statistics of married males as mentioned in the first paragraph, it is probably true that for married males, end of marriage is end of life. But seeing the spirits of a few thousand volunteers at Save Indian Family Foundation, reality shifts. Here people have not only gathered strength to fight against the system and stride against the tide, but have also developed high amount of positivity in their life and learned to remain happy despite a despicable and pathetic married life.
Marriage can definitely be the first step towards family foundation but cannot substitute life itself. Life is too big and diverse and there are many things to be done in life than to waste it in crying over the split milk called a bad marriage. Like the volunteers at Save Indian Family Foundation has taken cudgels against not only the biased laws and their faulty implementation but also against the mindset that a woman will not break away from a marriage without justifiable reason. This is a bitter truth which the society needs to know, imbibe and live with it, till the time it refuses to change itself.
Not only that, based on that false statement, the husband and his entire family was arrested, put behind bars, made to cough out huge amounts to get a bail and had no choice but to fight a legal battle in an otherwise defunct and dead judicial outreach and was also subjected to malicious prosecution. For the charge of dowry harassment being false, the concocted stories of alleged torture would also bear no ground. Having thus said, section 498A IPC, being heavily misused has actually turned out into an assassin’s weapon rather a protector’s shield as rightly pointed out by the Honorable Supreme Court of India. Instead of making families, it is breaking families, for any woman who has falsely implicated her husband and in – laws in a false criminal case has lost their trust and the marriage has been dead for all practical purposes.
A recent study in Mumbai claimed 40 % of marriages registered in Mumbai end in a divorce. And most of such cases involve filing of a false dowry case in order to get a quick divorce with a hefty alimony. Unscrupulous girls, supported by ill – minded parents, especially mother, pampered by a biased legal system who is highly de – sensitized to husbands (read married men) have found this as a very easy way to earn tax – free money. And to add to that all of those so called marriages have been performed on some auspicious date / time in consultation with some purohit / pundit etc.
When marriages could last so strongly for ages down the memory lane, and those too were conducted on some auspicious date / time in consultation with some purohit / pundit etc., what has changed so drastically in recent times that marriages have become a source of business opportunity for women and a source of ignominy and stress for men? Save Indian Family Foundation, the single largest NGO committed to the cause of spreading the message of Gender Equity and Family Harmony in addition to providing free legal, moral and psychological support to the victims of false dowry harassment and Domestic Violence cases, receives on an average of 200 calls a week over its various help lines spread all over India and abroad as well from battered and harassed men who are either victims of the misuse of these laws or are subjected to Domestic Violence at the hands of their wives.
Have we come of the time to consult a lawyer rather than a pundit or a purohit to decide a marital knot? Especially a male does need to do so before tying the knot. For if the marriage does not work (which is quite possible in today’s dynamic socio – economic scenario), he will have to bear the brunt of the fallacy. A false case lodged with the help of the corrupt police force, sleeping judiciary and mercenary lawyers robs the man of his health, wealth, life, career and happiness. Even with a low conviction rate, the mental trauma that the man and his family including his mother and sisters and his father and other relatives undergo cannot be described in words and is by no means less than actual conviction.
But does life end there? Is the end of marriage, the end of life? Perhaps yes, but probably no. Looking at the alarmingly high and surprisingly suppressed suicide statistics of married males as mentioned in the first paragraph, it is probably true that for married males, end of marriage is end of life. But seeing the spirits of a few thousand volunteers at Save Indian Family Foundation, reality shifts. Here people have not only gathered strength to fight against the system and stride against the tide, but have also developed high amount of positivity in their life and learned to remain happy despite a despicable and pathetic married life.
Marriage can definitely be the first step towards family foundation but cannot substitute life itself. Life is too big and diverse and there are many things to be done in life than to waste it in crying over the split milk called a bad marriage. Like the volunteers at Save Indian Family Foundation has taken cudgels against not only the biased laws and their faulty implementation but also against the mindset that a woman will not break away from a marriage without justifiable reason. This is a bitter truth which the society needs to know, imbibe and live with it, till the time it refuses to change itself.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Open letter to the Indian Embassy
I would like to introduce myself as a member of Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF), an NGO in India, dedicated to the cause of spreading the message of Gender Equality, Family Harmony in India, in addition to giving free legal, moral and psychological advice to people who are caught on the wrong side of marital laws related to complaints of dowry harassment and Domestic Violence.
When I say, “to be caught on the wrong side” what I mean is to highlight the practice of implicating innocents falsely under these legal provisions and then harassing them, terrorizing them to make them accede to illegal demands.
IPC 498A The most draconian law highlights the major marketable features of this law. In short, under this law, any married woman can get her husband and in-laws behind bars at a mere complaint. No investigation is done in such cases and the police and the authorities behave in a totally one - sided manner to extort as much money as possible from innocent law abiding citizens.
As per a study conducted by the Center for Social Research there is only 2 % conviction in such cases and as such 98 % cases are false and are settled out of court after gross financial extortion of men and their families in the process taking advangtage of a defunct legal system and a corrupt executive environment.
Yet such draconian laws are existing and terrorizing citizens to the point of driving them to suicides. The suicide statistics for married men in the year 2005 and 2006 stand at 52, 000 and 56, 000 respectively whereas the same for married women stand at 26, 000 and 28, 000 respectively. More than double the number of men are committing suicides being exasperrated with a biased society and government.
This despite being the fact that men pay 82 % of taxes in India. But still they are yet to get a National Commission for Men and Men’s Welfare Ministry to redress their concerns. Men in India have no support system, no helpline to fall back upon in times of distress.
International studies world over have proved that both men and women have equal probability to be both victims and perpetrators of Domestic Violence, but still the Domestic Violence Act 2005, in India does not allow men to be complainants or women to be respondents. Only women can make a complaint and that too only against a man. How can such a stupidly drafted law be used to curb violence? It will only act as a catalyst for more violence to occur.
I do not expect any results out of this long email. My only intention is to create awareness about this grave miscarriage of justice going on in the name of WOMEN EMPOWERMENT in the country.
The Conveneient Male Victim Theory
Dr. Rajesh Talwar finally gets a bail and will soon be acquitted as well since the police have failed to produce / gather any motive for the murder let alone any evidence against him. Over a month of harassment of a father who lost his daughter and that too police interrogation. Will the police answer for the reason of apprehending Dr. Rajesh for the murder without doing proper homework and just succumbing to outblown media trials.
Sensation crazy and TRP hungry media channels were flashing the case like some detective murder story and put so much pressure on the authorities that they caught the father as per the “Convenient Male Victim Theory” and harassed him for so many days without reason without even allowing him to sink in the fact that his beloved daughter is no more and has been murdered at a tender age of 14.
After he was released on bail, the media was happy celebrating, forgetting the fact that it was the same media whose pressure had led the father to being harassed beyond limits and was also made to take the blame of his daughter’s murder upon him. He was projected as a villain in the media ab initio and the media was projecting him in a very bad light even before either the motive of the murder was established or any evidence found against him, the media had already reconstructed the event – folding and flashed it across.
This was highly demeaning of national media acting in a highly immature manner just to gather publicity and riding on its convenient male victim theory. When no clear motive / evidence were available, catch hold of the nearest male relative of the murdered and frame a story to explain their conclusions. Now the media is happily flashing the bail news of Dr. Rajesh, and also showing the three actual accused, what accountability it will take to justify the harassment Dr. Talwar underwent.
If Dr. Talwar had committed the crime, why would he do it in his own house staying inside? Everyone ignored this simple question and happily believed the father to be the murderer of his own daughter. For how long will the males in society in general, and Indian society in particular, continue to live in suspicion? Suspicion of committing a crime, suspicion of having done something gravely wrong for being subjected to injustice, suspicion of breaking a relationship.
Do the society, the media and the government consider males as human beings having some basic rights? Every year 80, 000 males are committing suicide as per suicide statistics provided by National Crime Records Bureau, yet males in this country do not have a single helpline to fall back upon in case of a crisis, let alone a National Commission for Men or a Men’s Welfare Ministry to redress their grievances. This dismal state of males continues to exist irrespective of the fact that males contribute to 82 % of the taxes paid in the country.
Who will restore the lost pride, integrity and moments of togetherness with his wife Nupur Talwar when they had lost their child? The media had even finished the trial based on what they seemed to have happened and also showed mock interrogation sessions. Is this some kind of a joke that the media is playing. The media needs to sensitize itself highly in dealing with matters concerned with males. Males are just treated as criminals in the media for no fault of theirs. Aarushi had the Women and Child Development minister Renuka Choudhary speaking for her, but who spoke for Dr. Rajesh? None.
The convenient male victim theory needs to be dropped. In the whole episode, the invisible victim, Hemraj was conveniently forgotten just because he was a male.
Once again the civil society and the government are urged to look into the issues faced by the men of today. How they are being made convenient scapegoats in blind compliance with the Convenient Male Victim Theory? This cornering is leading the society towards an impending catastrophe waiting to happen, the consequences of which will remain unforeseen, untold and perhaps unbearable.
Redefining Dowry Death
Another potshot taken by the National Commission of Women at the social fabric, after the horrendous proposition to include alimony for live – in partners and removal of the adultery clause as a ground to deny maintenance to wives. This time it is related to the issue of dowry deaths. Their suggestion is to include all unnatural causes of death of a married woman within any time frame of married life to be viewed and investigated as a dowry case.
This is a totally uncalled for proposition and a logical rationale fails to understand how a biased assumption can bring down a social evil. 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, misadventure (being attacked by insects, reptiles, fishes, lions, tigers, bears, stingrays, or other wild animals), adverse outcome of surgery, suicide, terrorism, war.”
Classifying all these deaths as dowry deaths within 7 years of marriage is in itself absurd. To top on it, now a totally mindless amendment to remove the 7 years ceiling is not becoming of National Commission of Women, a body claiming to be the champion of women’s causes. Such propositions only lead to unnecessary bloating of statistics related to crime against women and create aggravated panic in the society for women. No one will want to have a daughter fearing that she might be killed for dowry and this false fear is giving rise to female foeticide and infanticide in the society.
Moreover IPC already has sections to deal with murder, IPC 302, abetment of suicide, IPC 306. There is no need to provide a special section to married women when the same is not available to men. Every year 56, 000 married men are committing suicide, but those 56, 000 husband killers are roaming freely in the society. IPC 304B related to dowry deaths cannot be entrusted to be generating the correct and dependable statistics of the menace called dowry because the law itself is biased and based on assumption. It assumes all deaths of a married woman within 7 years of marriage as ‘Dowry Death’. Classifying all deaths as dowry deaths is nothing but an attempt by radical organizations like NCW to create fear in the society by blowing out of proportions the statistics related to crime against women as these outblown statistics fetch them money from national and international organizations.
It will be a grave injustice to the husband and his family to book them under dowry harassment charges and put them under legal prosecution when he has just lost his life partner to an accident. Most of the suicides by married women for various reasons are just linked to a single cause of dowry and a bloated picture is presented to the society by the money hungry radical organizations like NCW who fail to recognize the mothers and sisters of men as women.
Is the pain of a mother / sister less when her son / brother dies than when her daughter / sister dies? NCW needs to answer this question. Who is going to give justice to those 56, 000 aggrieved mothers / sisters who lost their son / brother to a torturous wife? Yet the wife is roaming freely in the society. Why no punishment to the wife when on the death of the wife (due to any reason) the husband and his whole family put behind bars on a mere assumption that the death is dowry related.
Why this injustice to men? Do they not have basic human rights? 82 % of taxes are paid by men and yet no their no welfare ministry for them. And to add to that, men are subjected to heavy misuse of stringent legal provisions targeted against them like IPC 304B which deprives them of basic right of being proclaimed innocent until proven guilty as prescribed by Amnesty International, the International Human Rights Organization. There have been instances of men and their relatives prosecuted under 304B (Dowry Death) and the girl has been found living with some other man. Who will account for the harassment that the innocent husband and his relatives went through because of a biased legal provision and a defunct legal system? And the girl is not even punished!!!
It’s high time that radical and gender obsessed women’s organizations stop spreading lies in the society in the name of crime against women and stop breaking families in the name of women empowerment. We, Save Indian Family Foundation, an organization dedicated to the cause of spreading family harmony and awareness about the misuse of dowry related and other marital laws severely condemn the recent amendments proposed by NCW and make the following recommendations to the government.
1) 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.
2) All cases of murder, including murder for dowry should be dealt with under IPC Section 302.
3) All cases of abetment of suicide, including those allegedly done for dowry, should be dealt with under IPC Section 306.
4) 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.
5) 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.
6) Those who misuse the section 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.
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