No Holiday for Misandry

drawing1
The foot-in-the-mouth virus makes a  post-monsoon comeback with Smt.Maneka Gandhi showing clarity of confusion with her “Paternity leave will be just a holiday for men” statement while speaking about the Maternity Benefit Bill. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/paternity-leave-will-be-just-a-holiday-for-men-says-maneka-gandhi-2993274/


Although said with sarcasm, the Women and Child Development Minister unintentionally admitted that men work harder than women and therefore “men do not even avail their existing leave entitlements to share the responsibility of child care”. A little indulgence of forethought required of any deserving Minister would have revealed to her that men in India cannot afford to take leave from work since it is mostly men who take on the responsibility of maintaining the family financially. How else can we explain the existence of multiple maintenance provisions only against men?

 

The confusion gets a little worse if we consider the fact that women’s rights advocates actually lament the absence of care of pregnant women by the husbands and can even be termed as domestic violence by way of negligence. Damned if you ‘leave’ it and damned if you dont.
However, for all intents and purposes it is not the mandate or duty or right of any WCD Minster to discuss the welfare or affairs of men even though ministers get elected on the basis of mixed gender votes and use the taxes which are almost completely paid by men.
It seems that the WCD Minister is the one who definitely has taken a holiday from sensibility, therefore we pray to the WCD Minister to take an unpaid leave of absence and reset her misandry index back to zero. I say unpaid because most of the taxes are paid by men who work and earn by not taking leave.
On the bright side it is a welcome change for WCD to be finally talking of ‘safeguards’ and ‘misuse’ of provisions of the Maternity Benefit Bill by women. Thats a start!

A Burning in Hyderabad

News reports started off saying that a kerosene-burning of a woman took place in the side lanes of the old city of Hyderabad. The accusation of the 30% burn victim is that she was attacked and burnt by her relatives. The woman is currently hospitalized and undergoing treatment. Police had taken custody of the accused and questioned. 
After investigation, other facts came to light. The relatives claimed that they were not involved in the incident. The burn victim claimed that she was working in Deloitte software company.  She claimed that the attack took place at 10pm in the night. During investigation, the police officials could not get any leads. At this stage a young man came forward to say that he was an eyewitness to the incident. But when the police interrogated him further, he claimed that the woman called him up at 9.30pm and told him that she was burnt and told him to give false witness of the incident.
Even her rescuer confirmed that he did not see anyone who could have set her on fire. On further investigation, police found out that she was not working for Deloitte. She already had 13 cheating cases on her. She even put false cases on many of her relatives and made them run around courts. An elderly relative explains how she put rape case against him, his wife, his deceased daughter and his two sons. When they were acquitted, she filed writ petition against their acquittal in the High Court. It is reported that she even put cases against people who refused to helped her and also against people who helped her! MBT party leader Azadullah Khan says that he himself, his brother, party workers and even a lawyer who helped her with bail were also implicated in fake harassment cases by this woman.
The news report concludes that at present, the police are investigating further into the case, but as of now it seems that the woman has allegedly has set herself on fire to implicate her government-employed relatives and extort money from them.

Sparks of Hate Speech near the Powder Keg of Misandry


Some of the greatest men in history like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and a long line of men and women who were inspired by these men have preached and practiced NON-VIOLENCE as a practice of life.

Union Minister Maneka Gandhi in a live Q&A session on Facebook India is reported to have said “…all the violence is male generated and goes on to say how school going boys are going to be rewarded for being ‘gender champions’.

Besides being highly misleading, inaccurate and diabolical to say the least, this speech can now be seen by many as a green signal to unleash violence against men and boys.Till now, there used be some fig-leaves of excuses to bash-up men, and now with this statement, no more vague causes will be needed to unleash violence against men and boys.

But somewhere between Adolf Hitler and Maneka Gandhi, the values of non-violence of a man like Mahatma Gandhi, whose name the Minister incidentally carries, have been hopelessly lost. The line between free speech and hate speech has been blurred with the mainstream media being so poetically mute. Is the main stream media maintaining this deafening silence because the speaker is a ruling party MP or is it because the speaker is a woman in-charge of the mighty Women and Child Development Ministry(WCD). Where is the vociferous media call for ‘THE NATION WANTS TO KNOW’?

It does not bode well for society for when a Minister leading the WCD gives out irresponsible hate speeches containing unscientific assumptions. What we have heard or read are just words, but these words betray the hate against men of this nation. Is this the official view of the WCD Ministry? And is this a precursor by the WCD Minister to roll out an official/unofficial anti-men hate campaign against the men and male children of this nation?

Being an elected Member of Parliament, is the Minister allowed to say this about the same men who elected her and her colleagues to power and also whose tax money goes into the maintenance of this Ministry? Were these feelings of male-hate illustrated in the election manifesto of this Minister during the time of election? Or is it just a jobrequirement for anyone heading the WCD Ministry? It is now left to the male voters and also the female voters of her constituency and the nation to conduct retrospection about their decision. It is also left to the political leadership to find out if the opinions and speech are personal in nature or emanate from the WCD Ministry’s official or ‘unofficial’ agenda. I put this question to the citizens who have given ministerial power to this particular minister if these thoughts and words ensure safety of the male children of the nation. Would it be safe not to question the motives of this Ministry, to say the least?

Secondly, why is that there is no mention of how the Ministry would reward girls for being ‘particularly respectful and helpful to boys and deserve to be emulated and rewarded’? Don’t boys also being children, also being the mandate of WCD, deserve respect?

Today, we are sitting on a powder keg of hate against men, whether it is men among Members of Parliament, Police officers, Defense personnel, Judiciary, Bureaucrats, Media or common citizens. There is already a conspiracy of surreptitious allowance of hate crime against men. This kind of crime is in contrast with the way crime happens by individuals/groups commit against each other. This kind of hate crime is now being initiated and continues to happen only because it is allowed by the State to happen by way of its cognizance and non-involvement in correction. Therefore, by being mute, it would be a crime in itself for citizens to keep quiet against these kinds of statements, specially coming from a sitting Union Minister.

It is understandable for the common man to fear backlash from a powerful ministry which has the power of the State and resources at its beck and call. But what reasons do the men in the government, the politicians, the main stream media have? Is this a silence maintained by fear? If this statement of the Minister is not challenged, then I suggest we all wait for the Kristallnacht against men that is about to follow.

Response to Law Commission of India invitation for Suggestions on IPC 498A

Reference Invitation to the public of India seeking consultations on IPC 498A: http://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/

S.498A by its definition and its procedure fails in the fundamental test of a concept called corpus delicti (Ref:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_delicti) which is concept that it must be proven that a crime has been committed before any accused is even tried by a court of law or arrested for trial. It is proper to register a complaint and start an investigation, but unfair to initiate proceedings against the accused without any material evidence of occurrence of cruelty. The sole basis of registered complaint is not enough to prosecute the accused until reasonable evidence is presented to initiate prosecution. Therefore all the cases booked till date were/are illegal and are to debited to the criminal negligence and betrayal of the law makers who have been voted to power or employed by the citizens of this nation who happen to be both men and women and not just women. The politicians, executive & judiciary are all equally answerable and have responsibility to all citizens whether male or female.

It is a fact that 57000 married men commit suicide every year(Ref: NCRB statistics, Min. of Home Affairs), due to financial torture by wives which by definition is the same as dowry harassment, in addition to other forms of mental, verbal, physical, social, financial and sexual forms of harassment. Therefore S.498A is fundamentally flawed as it projects women as perpetual victims and men as perpetual oppressors. In fact S.498A is a tool to ensure that women will always be perceived as victims and may be able to reap financial rewards and a gain a twisted sense of superiority.

It is also a fact that in any crime there are two parties, the perpetrator and the victim, and that is the only ‘relationship’ they have with respect to each other. The fact that IPC 498A and PWDVA appends the words ‘husband and wife and relatives’ to the parties is an attempt to criminalize marriage and to keep it alive even after the ‘crime’ has gone to trial and its ending. Once a police complaint is registered, the marriage is over for all purposes, and to keep using the words husband and wife is to sentence both the parties is to a state of war for a lifetime and to unethically milk the cow of marriage even after the cow is dead.

The phrase ‘overimplication’ undermines the fact that, an overwhelming majority of cases are examples of fictitious accusations. The real question is how the law makers are going to punish the perjurers and compensate the ones who have been wrongly implicated.

The conviction rate in cases under s.498A is low only because it is designed to be unnecessarily harsh and draconian in its initial effects and since because the vagueness and the illogic of its gender-bias is essentially illegal in its concept, it is bound to fail altogether. Also, the fact that many women do not take interest in the prosecution is because they have achieved their motive of extortion through its initial effects of extortion and because they know that their complaints are fictional.

The real ‘pragmatic reality’ is that the State has no say in sensitive family problems. Because the very nature of any Police entity is that of authority, superiority and dominance, while the nature of marriage is that of respect, trust and love. If made compoundable as in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the law will tend to become a tool of extortion where the criminal law and judicial apparatus becomes a lever for extortionist gangs wearing the veil of womanhood, perpetual victimhood and women’s empowerment. Even if this law is made bailable, a long drawn out trial is as good as a divorce decree without the judicial stamp of approval, apart from becoming an exercise in bitterness and hatred on the personal front and an exercise in nepotism, corruption and sowing the seeds of fragmentation on the social front which will leads to the increase of father-less bigots, hate-mongers and psychotic despots to say the least.

About the possibility of reconciliation, it should be pointed out that any settlement effort by the State through the Police or Judiciary via IPC 498A or PWDVA route is an exercise in State sponsored terrorism and extortion. How can there be a fair dialogue if the woman and man and the State agency knows that there is a sword hanging on the man’s neck.
The very fact that this law is special must ring the bells of disaster in the ears of the just and fair-minded. Even if the Constitution of India has laid down special benefits to women and children, any law must be without prejudice towards men. It is time we included this phrase in our Constitution. The argument that ‘misuse is not peculiar, therefore it must not be diluted’ is a murderer’s justification that it is OK to kill a hundred people in the hope that two of them probably deserved it.

In response to para 7.1, I wish to state that The Ministry of Women and Child Development has no right to seek the destruction of men.


In response to para 7.2, It may be pointed out that there is such a thing as prisons for women in which there are many married Indian women who have committed enough crimes of all kinds.


In response to para 7.2, it is true that the dilution of the law will lead to further chaos. The only true solution is to remove it and allow the already existing laws for extortion and blackmail to be used in cases of financial extortion which is the underlying principle of the concept of dowry harassment.


Response to Para 9. In case of a complaint by a married woman against husband or a husband against a wife, Police must read the law books for a definition of crime for economic offenses like extortion or physical torture and use such a law with existing procedures. I am sure there exists such a law and I am also sure that the legal provisions in India are mature enough to be applied to such crimes fairly and effectively.


Response to Para 10. Apart from repealing this monstrous law, the law makers must also think of how they want to compensate the existing victims of such rogue laws. A commission must be setup to enquire into the abuse of each registered crime and acquittal, compensations to be estimated and also the commission must device checks and balances to ensure that such crimes against humanity like IPC 498A must not be repeated in the future. This Commission must be made permanent and must be called the National Commission for Men.

Response to Para 11. The Commission must take account of the fact that over 57000 men commit suicide each year(Ref:MHA-NCRB sources). The Commission must understand that it is not enough to ‘discourage’ unjustified complaints, it is duty of the commission to ‘eliminate’ it altogether. The most balanced way of doing this it to eliminate IPC 498A/PWDVA and enforce existing gender-neutral criminal laws.


Response to Para 12. Excellent Idea. Since existing agencies, ministries and commissions are not motivated or ‘do not have the mandate’, a National Commission for Men(NCM) and Men’s Welfare Ministry(MWM) must be formed immediately to carry out this extensive task of spreading awareness to men all over the country, whether urban or rural. The Law Commission may get in touch with Men’s Rights Groups in India to move for its proposal in the Parliament.


Response to Para 13. Law and Police and Judiciary are supposed to go with the letter and spirit of the written law. Therefore, as a beginning, all gender-bias must be removed in all the laws. It should also be made the mandate of the NCM/MWM to enforce the same.

Response to Para 14. Police must be removed from the decision making process in problems related to marital issues.

Response to Para 15. The ‘elaborate machinery’ under PWDVA is nothing short of a Holocaust in the making against the men of this country. Trying to justify PWDVA is like trying to justify the Nazi philosophy of a pure human race and the consequent wholesale murder millions of Jews and other ‘subhumans’.

Questionnaire


1) a) What according to you is ideally expected of Police, on receiving the FIR alleging an offence u/s 498A of IPC? What should be their approach and plan of action?

Ideally Police should file cases under other gender-neutral laws under IPC for extortion and/or physical assault and go by the investigation procedure under CrPC.

b) Do you think that justice will be better meted out to the aggrieved woman by the immediate arrest and custodial interrogation of the husband and his relations named in the FIR? Would the objective of s.498A be better served thereby?

Justice will be dispensed only if IPC 498A is repealed and its victims of misuse compensated.

2) a) The Supreme Court laid down in D.K. Basu (1996) and other cases that the power of arrest without warrant ought not to be resorted to in a routine manner and that the Police officer should be reasonably satisfied about a person’s complicity as well as the need to effect arrest. Don’t you agree that this rule applies with greater force in a situation of matrimonial discord and the police are expected to act more discreetly and cautiously before taking the drastic step of arrest?

Police should take permission from National Commission for Men if it wants to arrest any man or his relatives

b) What steps should be taken to check indiscriminate and unwarranted arrests?

Police should take permission from National Commission for Men if it wants to arrest any man or his relatives.

3) Do you think that making the offence bailable is the proper solution to the problem? Will it be counter-productive?

The only solution would be to repeal IPC 498A, victims of misuse compensated and to enforce existing gender-neutral IPC laws for extortion and physical assault.

4) There is a view point supported by certain observations in the courts’ judgments that before effecting arrest in cases of this nature, the proper course would be to try the process of reconciliation by counselling both sides. In other words, the possibility of exploring reconciliation at the outset should precede punitive measures. Do you agree that the conciliation should be the first step, having regard to the nature and dimension of the problem? If so, how best the conciliation process could be completed with utmost expedition? Should there be a time-limit beyond which the police shall be free to act without waiting for the outcome of conciliation process?

Conciliation process with the sword of IPC498A or PWDVA hanging over the man’s head fits the definition of extortion under IPC.

5) Though the Police may tender appropriate advice initially and facilitate reconciliation process, the preponderance of view is that the Police should not get involved in the actual process and their role should be that of observer at that stage? Do you have a different view?

Conciliation process with the sword of IPC498A or PWDVA hanging over the man’s head fits the definition of extortion under IPC.

6) a) In the absence of consensus as to mediators, who will be ideally suited to act as mediators/conciliators – the friends or elders known to both the parties or professional counsellors (who may be part of NGOs), lady and men lawyers who volunteer to act in such matters, a Committee of respected/retired persons of the locality or the Legal Services Authority of the District?
b) How to ensure that the officers in charge of police stations can easily identify and contact those who are well suited to conciliate or mediate, especially having regard to the fact that professional and competent counsellors may not be available at all places and any delay in initiating the process will lead to further complications?

Conciliation/mediation could be possible only if weapons of male destruction are repealed

7) a) Do you think that on receipt of complaint under S.498A, immediate steps should be taken by the Police to facilitate an application being filed before the Judicial Magistrate under the PDV Act so that the Magistrate can set in motion the process of counselling/conciliation, apart from according interim protection?

b) Should the Police in the meanwhile be left free to arrest the accused without the permission of the Magistrate?

c) Should the investigation be kept in abeyance till the conciliation process initiated by the Magistrate is completed?

Even after IPC 498A and PWDVA are repealed/or made gender neutral, conciliation process can be initiated by the parties themselves. State machinery must not interfere with family related issues. State machinery is better served in protecting citizens irrespective of their gender since their salary is made possible by the citizens(mostly male) themselves.

8) Do you think that the offence should be made compoundable (with the permission of court)? Are there any particular reasons not to make it compoundable?

The only crime is the continuation of IPC 498A and it must not be made compoundable.

9) Do you consider it just and proper to differentiate the husband from the other accused in providing for bail?

The word husband/wife/man/woman must be replaced by ‘spouse’ in the law so that differentiation does not exist while providing bail.

10) a) Do you envisage a better and more extensive role to be played by Legal Services Authorities (LSAs) at Taluka and District levels in relation to s.498A cases and for facilitating amicable settlement? Is there a need for better coordination between LSAs and police stations?

State sponsored/aided agencies must be removed from interfering in family matters.

b) Do you think that aggrieved women have easy access to LSAs at the grassroot level and get proper guidance and help from them at the pre-complaint and subsequent stages?

Not just aggrieved women, even aggrieved men may file complaints under gender neutral IPC laws against anyone.

c)Are the Mediation Centres in some States well equipped and better suited to attend to the cases related to S,498-A?

Mediation Centres in all States are thinly veiled extortion centres which pressurize men to settle for money. Apart from corrupting the already corrupt women, the very people who run the centres are bound to get corrupted.

11) What measures do you suggest to spread awareness of the protective penal provisions and civil rights available to women in rural areas especially among the poorer sections of people?
Establish NCM and MWM.

12) Do you have any information about the number of and conditions in shelter homes which are required to be set up under PDV Act to help the aggrieved women who after lodging the complaint do not wish to stay at marital home or there is none to look after them?

Many innocents & parents are being thrown out of their own homes at the twilight of their lives by the use of PWDVA. Instead the government must fund food and shelter programs in exchange for vocational work by the aggrieved persons. Instead of turning them into beggars and destitutes, the government must instill a sense of hope, dignity and confidence in these people by encouraging them to work and earn for their own living.

What according to you is the main reason for low conviction rate in the prosecutions u/s 498A?

The stupidity and anti-male bias of the law combined with the extortion potential to make easy money on the faulty premise that all women are victims and all men are perpetrators.

13) (a) Is it desirable to have a Crime Against Women Cell (CWC) in every district to deal exclusively with the crimes such as S.498A? If so, what should be its composition and the qualifications of women police deployed in such a cell?

Existing CWC cells must be disbanded as they are extremely prejudicial against men and have become centres of extortion.

(b) As the present experience shows, it is likely that wherever a CWC is set up, there may be substantial number of unfilled vacancies and the personnel may not have undergone the requisite training. In this situation, whether it would be advisable to entrust the investigation etc. to CWC to the exclusion of the jurisdictional Police Station?

I do not know about the training, but my experience with CWC/CAW has shown me that it is extremely anti-male and is efficient at the art of extorting money from men. S.498A lends itself to the corruption of the State Machinery.

To Download this letter to send to the Law Commissioner: go to https://sites.google.com/site/mensrightsresources/Letter_Campaigns

Job Application to the Home Minister

To,

The Minister of Home Affairs

Republic of India

Dear Sir,

It has come to my notice through a news report that there is a vacancy for the position of Chairman for the National Human Rights Commission. I wish to submit my candidature for the post. The following are my qualifications. I am a natural born citizen of India. I am a qualified mechanical engineer. I had been falsely implicated in a dowry harassment case in 2004. I have defended myself honourably and was acquitted in 2009. In the course of the trial, I have faced the following.

Judicial Remand for two days in Central Prison, Hyderabad.

This shows that I have experienced how easy it is for a common man to be incarcerated in prison without any prima facie evidence. Also, I have a reasonably good experience and awareness of the conditions of our prisons and prison systems. Thereafter, I have seen and experienced the agony of a prolonged trial and I am well aware of the deficiencies in our legal systems. Also, after attending many courts concerned with family issues, I have come across many families suffering similar woes and I can empathize with the common man. I have also interacted with many judges, lawyers & police personnel and have understood that power, prejudice and badly designed systems can affect the judgement of anyone in the system. I understand that there is a need to constantly revise the laws to ensure that they are judicious and effective. This has given me the understanding of the complex power equations that come in play within the system. I believe that every person has the right to live in dignity. I believe that even the biggest of governments may be wrong in making policies from time to time. I believe that if the time comes, we must re-evaluate and re-vamp the system dispassionately. I am neither intimidated by power, nor believe that it is absolute. These form the cornerstone of my being.

With this I support my candidature for the position in question. Please feel free to contact me for any additional clarifications.

Sincerely,

Parthasarathy

‘Dowry’ Explained in Tanishq’s ad

This is Tanishq’s new jewellery ad. This is the real reason for justifying the existence of laws like IPC 498A and DV Act.
  • The reality is that most Indian parents push their reluctant daughters into marriages.
  • The reality is that most women get married for the love of jewellery and riches.
  • The reality is that it takes a promise of gold for most women to agree to get married.
  • The reality is that an average woman in India agrees to get married because her parents promises her jewellery and property rights. THIS is the real ‘Dowry’.
  • The reality is that most Indian women get married for all the wrong reasons.
Dowry is popularly imagined to be inducement to the groom for marrying the daughter. But the actual explanation of Dowry is clearly shown in this ad. And this is what is happening in India.
As soon as the glamour of the marriage ceremony wears off and the glitter of the gold fades to the reality of life, these gold-digging daughters of India start dreaming of escaping the drudgery of marriage. And they do it in style, aided by the Mengele of our time, the NCW.
  • The rest is the reality of false criminal cases against husbands and their families.
  • The rest is legally aided butchery of men.
  • The rest is legally aided torment of fatherless children.
  • And the concentration camps of Indian Family Courts where the poisonous fumes of bias and oppression kills all voices of reason, conscience and the last whimpers of justice.
  • And all this for these women’s lust for gold.

Launch of All India Men’s Welfare Association

Since the beginning of the human race, men have taken the role of the provider and the protector of family. Perhaps, for this reason, society thinks that there is no need to protect the protector. Perhaps, it is for this reason today, that men’s rights are being taken for granted.
The Constitution of India guarantees us Equal Rights to men and women under the law. Our Constitution also has an Article to look into the making of special provisions for women. While this may appear fair enough, these special provisions are being misused to make blatantly biased laws against men. These laws and provisions are trampling upon the fundamental right to life and liberty. These laws are being used to divide the human race into two. These laws are being used to extort.
Unable to bear this unfair pressure, 56000 men are committing suicide each year. But today, society has no time nor the inclination to think and reflect upon this.
So many families are being sent to jail each day just on the strength of one accusation.
Men are automatically branded as culprits and made to pay maintenance and alimonies, inspite of the fact that men and women are declared equal as per the Constitution of India.
There is no voice in India to talk about these crimes being committed against men. While there is even a ministry for animal welfare, we do not even have any government platform to even listen to the issues of boys and men.
Today we are launching the All India Men’s Welfare Association to mark a milestone in history. Our voice shall raise. Our message shall be heard.
Our demands are as follows.
  • A Ministry for Men’s Welfare to allocate funds, resources and nation wide programs for the betterment of men. This Ministry must also be responsible for removing bias against men during the formulating Bills and existing Acts and Laws.
  • A National Commission for Men to investigate root causes and sources of bias against men.

And to that effect, we will make our efforts to spread awareness among the suffering public.

http://dvawareness-india.blogspot.com/2009/10/all-india-mens-welfare-association.html