File RTI for 94% True Cases.

NEW DELHI: Are we being fair on the not -so-fair sex? It would appear not. Laws for protecting women like the anti-dowry legislation and the domestic violence Act were vociferously opposed by men’s groups on Wednesday at a consultation initiated by the ministry for women and child development and UNIFEM.

The burden of their argument was that these laws don’t follow the fundamental legal premise that a person is innocent until he is proven guilty. “In 30% of the cases that come to us, there is a rift between the woman and her in-laws where the woman forces the man to choose between the two under the threat of slapping Section 498A of the Dowry Prohibition Act on the husband and his family,” said Ashish from Save Indian Family (SIF). He added that there should be a deterrent to prevent misuse of the law. Another representative Hemant from SIF said that 1.2 lakh women (women relatives of husbands) were arrested under the anti-dowry Act but the ministry of women and child development minister was not doing anything about it. “Are you a wife development or a woman development minister?” he asked.

Dr Anumapa Singh, who counsels couples, pointed to the anomaly in the domestic violence law in that the aggrieved party could only be a woman while the respondent could only be a male. “We have witnessed violence at home where the perpetrator is a woman. So why does the law hold a man as the accused?” she wanted to know. TOI had reacted to an observation of the Orissa chairperson of the state commission for women on September 19, 2007, when she had said that these laws were being abused.(And she was kicked out / ousted by NCW for speaking the TRUTH) We had felt there should be checks on such abuse and said, “In cases where a complaint is proved false beyond doubt, the accuser must face a jail term.” This would act as a deterrent to the abuse of Sec 498A, we felt.

At the meeting on Wednesday, however, the men’s group wanted the laws to be scrapped altogether

One thought on “File RTI for 94% True Cases.

  1. It is true.

    Girls approach victim family for extorting money by using 498a.

    FIR should not be quashed for 498a if Govt. & courts are serious about Dowry protection.

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