Domestic Violence has driven over 780,000 Married Men to suicide!
Protest against the Unconstitutional Domestic Violence Act
At Shri. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar statue, RBI square, opp. Vidhansabha
on 6th November 2011 from 11.00 AM to 3.00 PM
The insanity, unconstitutionality and the male hatred inherent in the
marital laws of India is no longer a new thing. It is a well known
fact that there is a dire need for a drastic rationalization and de-
genderization of the marital laws in India.
India, is one of the first countries to have a non-bailable,
cognizable and non-compoundable criminal offense for marriage
breaking
which is not only inter-gender discriminatory but also intra-gender
discriminatory. It's the highly controversial, draconian and inhuman
law of the Indian Penal Code – the IPC Section 498A. This law
considers husband and his family as"Guilty until Proven Innocent" and
is a very facilitating "tool of arrest on demand" since 1983.
This law has been responsible for the arrest of millions of innocent
citizens of India including husbands, mothers, fathers and siblings
of
husbands, octogenarians, infants and has also abetted the suicides of
a few million people ever since its inception.
As if, all this wasn't enough, the Govt. of India was benevolent
enough to introduce another gender biased piece of legislation – "The
Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act". As the name
suggests,
it is applicable only to women. But, to be specific, to married women
all wives only!
Married Indian Males are losing the most fundamental right of all,
THE
"RIGHT TO LIFE". It is not at all uncommon to see people laughing
whenever a married men tries to express his problems or says that his
spouse and in – laws are torturing him. The audience might find it
funny but it is a sad reality for those 61453 married men who were
driven to take their own lives in 2010 being unable to bear the
torture and lakhs more such who continue to live an abused life
without even a semblance of acceptance of abuse. This was as per the
data presented by the National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB), Home
Ministry report released by Hon'ble Union Home Minister P.
Chidambaram
on Thursday, the 27th of October 2011.
According to statistics released by the Ministry of Home Affairs, in
the last fifteen years (1995 - 2010) over 776812 married men have
been
claimed by rampant domestic violence against them. In a shocking
revelation of suicide statistics for the year 2010 reveals that once
again almost double the number of married men have committed suicide
in comparison to married women as the report attached here
corroborates. The rate at which the suicide rates of married men are
increasing from 1995 according to the govt reports (See Annexure ) is
truly astounding. The figures for a last few years also are equally
concerning.
National Crime Records Bureau – Ministry of Home Affairs Suicide
Statistics
Year Married Men Married Women
2010 61453 31754
2009 57639 30224
2008 58192 31300
2007 57593 30064
SIFF attributes the tremendous increase in suicides of Indian
married
males to the complete lack of understanding and unavailability of
remedies on the issue of domestic violence against men in India.
SIFF research has shown that while international studies world over
have proved that both men and women are equally likely to be victims
of domestic violence, in India a male facing domestic violence has
almost nowhere to look for help. The Indian courts have passed little
relief and very recently one of the most prominent Indian High courts
apathetically observed, "Though men are victims of violence, such
incidences are few and far between, thus ruling out the possibility
of
protection from the parliament", while dismissing a petition
challenging the constitutionality of the Domestic Violence Act as it
violates Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.
The DV Act, as it is affectionately called by its victims – the
Harassed Husbands – has many a weapons to destroy husband and his
family. Some of them are listed here
It has provisions for ordering interim maintenance over and above
that
ordered in Section 125 CrPC (Refer Section 20(d) of the Act) –
inbuilt violation of the principle of "Double Jeopardy".
It has provisions for ordering a husband to refrain from entering his
own house.
It has provisions for ordering a father to stay away from his own
children – inbuilt formula to create a fatherless society that can
result in more crime in the society.
It has provisions to jail a husband on mere statement by wife (Refer
section 31 and 32 of the Act) – inbuilt violation of Articles 20, 21
and 22 of the Indian Constitution that jointly provide the "Right to
Fair and Free Trial" to any citizen of India. This single provision
renders the Act as unconstitutional and liable to be scrapped,
provided there is willingness in the Indian Govt. to do so.
It has provisions for a case under Section 498A to be filed – this
defies the very argument with which the Act was filed. It was told by
the feminists that since 498A cases are taking very long time to
finish, we should have a civil law and now this very civil law has a
secret tunnel leading back to the same Section 498A. This clearly
shows the moral bankruptcy of the feminists and intellectual
bankruptcy of the lawmakers declaring either of them ineligible to
propose or formulate any laws.
There is no proper definition of offense in the Act and a mere
reading
of the Act makes the very institution of marriage as the onset of
Domestic Violence on a wife as if husbands have no other job in life
but to beat their wives.
This Act is very dangerous for husbands and there is a dire need to
protest against it and urge the Indian Govt. to repeal the Act.
Psychologists and Social workers are also equally to be blamed for
this carnage since they fail to understand the issue of Domestic
violence on men and shockingly even after their deaths they term
those
men to be weak and irresponsible. It becomes imperative to mention
here that the peculiar feature of domestic violence against men is
its
total lack of social acceptance let alone extending any kind of
support to its victims. Finding no helping hand from the society,
government or the media, these male victims have no option left but
to
commit suicide.
Indian males demand their "Right to Life" back
The responsibility of these self annihilated innocent male lives
ultimately rests with the Government. The Government cannot simply
shake its hands off this responsibility and pass off these suicides
as
being due to 'financial reasons'. Whereas in reality, as per the
analysis of NCRB itself (a Govt. body), the contribution of
"financial
reasons" to suicide lies low at a meager 2%. INSAAF strongly
recommends that the Indian government should stop neglecting the
suicides of Indian Married males and allocate adequate budget to
spread awareness of domestic violence on men and provide adequate
redress mechanisms at the social and legal levels so that lakhs of
innocent men who can be still be saved can claim back their "right to
life"
SIFF "Right to Life" Campaign
The yearlong "Right to Life" campaign for Indian men will be
officially inaugurated on International Men's Day ( IMD) on November
19th 2011 . As part of this campaign INSAAF plans to
Provide free counselling to married men facing emotional,
physiological, physical or financial violence at the hands of their
spouses or in-laws.
Spread awareness in the society and media on the issue of Domestic
Violence on men
Conduct seminars for the judiciary and legislature with the intention
of creating effective redressal mechanism for male victims.
Provide the framework for the creation of a Protection of Men from
Domestic Violence act ( PMDVA).
About SIFF : INSAAF is an international think tank specializing in
social and gender research. Consisting entirely of intelligentsia
possessing vast collective expertise in advancing social reform,
legislative consultation and advisory research this Non Governmental
Organization (NGO) has branches both the United States and in India.
We have presented our research in front of various standing
committees
of government and provided credible data and unbiased factual
research
on various legislative issues some of which are Lokpal Bill, Civil
Nuclear Liability Bill, Judicial Accountability Bill and Sexual
harassment at workplace bill.
Supported by: INSAAF Save Indian Family Foundation, Save Family
Foundation Delhi, All India Men's Welfare Association, Association
for
International Men's Rights Activism
http://www.saveindianfamily.org,http://savefamily.org
--
Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth. - Mohandas Gandhi
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