Can india have one fair law for men"
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Can India have "One" fair law for men?? Can cruelty by wife on husband be termed a Criminal offence?? Do male victims of domestic violence have legal recourse available?? Caught your spouse on adultery can she be charged?? These and many more queries are posted frequently on national helpline for Men SIF One '08882498498" Hope for Men. Similar questions are asked through online portal & save India family yahoo group mailer seeking relief- from thousands of male victims across nation. The national helpline no for Men first of its kind has reportedly received 45000 calls since it's inception in April 2014. Delhi alone received more than 5000 calls seeking legal guidance and support in case a perpetrator is women. The out come has been achieved without any government aid & mass publicity.
Common belief that women are victim of cruelty & domestic violence however considering laws as per IPC, it's delayed cognition when women is perpetrator can she can simply go Scott free in case they are cruel to their spouse. NCRB statistics reveal that female convicted in any crime has grown four fold in last decade. Crime like cruelty by wife on husband or domestic violence by women on men is not recognized by law. Needless to say that in spite of laws heavily loaded against men female perpetrator numbers has grown four fold. Considering this What could be the outcome if only Indian laws would have been gender neutral.
The outraged sensitivity towards crime against women is exhibiting far reaching effect, Reporting cases of rape, molestation, cruelty, domestic violence have surpassed all growth charts. The cases of rape reported grew by 300% in Delhi alone. Women at one hand get tremendous sensitivity and support in reporting such cases while complete apathy towards male victim of cruelty, domestic violence, sexual abuse is other side of the coin . The said offence have never been considered a threat for 51% of male population of the nation . In this jet age where we are catching up with all form of notoriety, Can country afford to be unfair to darker sex?
33000 cases of rape are reported nation wide which brings National embarrassment. In spite of DCW claims that 53% rape cases are false and reported with ulterior motive. Session court in Delhi made a welcome observation to deem a victim of such false cases as "rape survivor". Law protects women if perpetrators are out raging their "modesty" however "modesty" of men is discounted conveniently. 50+ laws to protect women under various circumstances where not even a single law to protect men under similar circumstance raises an obvious question,Are Men not marginalized??
Equilibrium of justice got richly skewed towards fairer sex on every aspect of life. Be it sexual harassment at work place, out raging modesty of women, domestic violence, rape or cruelty. The law provisions men as guilty till proven innocent defying law of natural justice. Male fraternity constitute 51% of Indian population and are deprived of basic legal protection from cruelty & domestic violence. The argument put forwards is non existent reporting of such offences. If their is no laws or men's commission where should the crime be reported. 45 thousand calls in just 1.5 years of activation if National helpline for Men itself is sole testimony of gross abuse men undergo.Even several women helpline nos have often seen flooded with men as complainant.
Family disputes are sighted as single largest reason for male suicides in India and close to 20,000 men commit suicide every year because of family disputes. India also being the world numero uno in male suicides shows complete apathy towards plight of Men. The lack of gender neutral laws leave men on barren land passing the entire blame and responsibly on men. Had men been given a fair chance of legal representation thousands of lives could be saved.
Amit Gupta
Convenor - Hridaya
