Harrassed Husbands join forces : The Statesman coverage

Below is a coverage of the Statesman, a renowned newspaper in Kolkata in the front page on 4th September 2007. Certain controversies arose after the coverage was published. I think it necessary to clarify on the statement - "If my mother slaps my wife, she is doing it for her own good ~ not because she is her daughter-in-law but because she thinks of my wife as her daughter." as follows :

Infact my statement was not completely printed due to lack of space it seems. I would like to make it further clear that if that mother in law slaps, it is the same mother in law who would "do or die" when the daughter in law is in immense labor pain or if an unnatural bleeding starts. She is the same mother in law who will help the daughter in law bring up her kids, help to make the food in the kitchen and assist her in day to day work. She is the same mother in law whose experience would let the new comer know how much salt to spread in the food and how to run a household smoothly. She is the same mother in law whose jewellery and property will be enjoyed by the daughter in law when she passes away.

Above all, i would like to make it very clear, that i had told the reporter that i have heard of cases in the long past when the Mother in laws used to slap the daughter in laws. This was told to me both by my maternal and paternal grand mothers. It was a time when the girl used to get married at the age of 12 or 13. She used to be as good as a child and mischievous. Today, the mother does not have a right to slap her own son or daughter. Slapping the daughter in law of today is just a forgettable impossibility.

FYI, we are not against the law. We are against the misimplementation and misinterpretation of law. In other words, we are against the misuse of the law and the law needs to be strictly amended for a better and peaceful society. We do not believe in Domestic Violence Act, we are looking ahead to a Domestic Harmony Act.


The coverage of the Statesman is as below :



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Tuesday, 4 September 2007


Harassed husbands join forces
Kajari Bhattacharya KOLKATA, Sept 3: In an age when women have finally found their voice to protest injustice against them, here’s a group of men which claims to have been harassed by the very weapon instituted to protect their wives’ rights. Men and their families claiming to have been “falsely implicated” under the anti-dowry law, Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, have formed a support group to provide legal aid and advice to fellow “victims”. Three of the four representatives of the support group, Bharat Bachao Sangathan, were implicated in Section 498A cases. A leaflet handed out to those unaware of the group reads: “498A & Domestic Violence Act: Weapons to kill in-laws. Are you being tortured by your wife/daughter-in-law/sister-in-law? Have you been falsely implicated in dowry laws by your wife/daughter-in-law/sister-in-law? Are you being harassed by the police?” Meetings are held once a week in a school in north Kolkata and men, women and families arrested under 498A or being “threatened” by their daughters-in-law and family with the anti-dowry law, discuss their fears. Suggestions come their way from four representatives of the Bharat Bachao Sangathan ~ Mr Vineet Ruia, social worker; Mr Kamlesh K Dwivedi, Mr DS Rao and Mr Suman Chatterjee, IT professional. The last three are “victims” of the “misuse” of the debated law. The group is an offshoot of the NGO Save Indian Family, which fights for the rights of men “wrongly” accused of taking dowry. The Save Indian Family website rants about how such politicians as Ms Brinda Karat and Ms Renuka Chowdhury are obsessed about women’s rights. “The Domestic Violence Act has been designed to violate the rights of men and their family members,” reads a Press note issued in New Delhi when members of the Save Indian Family organised a protest meet at Jantar Mantar, a week back. At the north Kolkata meeting, group members discuss ways to get out of the 498A “trap”, which they claim is a law meant solely for the harassment of in-laws and husbands. One of them is a visiting faculty at Calcutta University and Jadavpur University. Another is a businessman. An elderly Muslim couple asks about ways to hasten the end of a court case against them. A young man claims his brother’s wife and father-in-law are trying to extort Rs15 lakh by threatening to activate Section 498A on his family. According to Mr Ruia, Section 498A and the Domestic Violence Act are destroying the Indian joint family system. “We don’t want single parenthood to come into our society. We’re not saying women should not have rights ~ but rights should be for all women, not just if she is a daughter-in-law. Mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law should not be imprisoned. We are for the joint family. If my mother slaps my wife, she is doing it for her own good ~ not because she is her daughter-in-law but because she thinks of my wife as her daughter.” Mr Ajay Kumar, DCDD, said: “Few people misuse Section 498A. It depends from case to case.”


Discussion on this Pageone item Disclaimer: These are Internet generated discussion threads for which the The Statesman has no responsibility.

RE: Harassed husbands join forcesThis support group has been borne out of necessity. There is a need for similar support groups for victims of the "law" on atrocities against SC/ST.
RE:Harassed husbands join forcesColumnists Feminists in the government: common man at risk Monday, 07.09.2007, 03:59am (GMT) The current UPA government lead by the congress is different from the previous gov
RE:Harassed husbands join forcesThe World Health Organisation, on its report on India clearly cited Section 498A as one of the major reasons for the "Increasing Abuse of the Elderely in India".
RE:Harassed husbands join forcesThe Supreme Court of India has labeled the misuse of section 498A as "legal terrorism" and stated that "many instances have come to light where the complaints are not bonafide and have been filed with

NANDIGRAM - JALIANWALA BAG - Is India Independent?

Is India Independent? Are Indians Independent? Does Independence means throwing out the Britishers and live a miserably insecured life?
The British were horrible. But the Indian administration is crooked. The country is being ruled by bloody scoundrels. How can a man be violent against another man?
If you try to snatch someone's belonging forcefully, he has all the rights not only to resist but to oppose, to fight and to kill you.
What is wrong with what Farmers in Nandigram (WB) are doing?

The world criticized the British firing in Jalianwala Bag. But in an Independent India, is there anyone who criticized the firing in Nandigram? I take it as a repetation. The only difference is that earlier our blood was being sucked by aliens and now it is being sucked by our own people.

Vineet Ruia

TAXES IN INDIA - THANKS Mr. CHIDAMBARAM

In India, you cannot do anything with peace. There are so many kinds of taxes

Income Tax
Professional Tax
State Sales Tax (VAT)
Central Sales Tax
Customs Duty
Excise Duty
Service Tax
Health Tax
Wealth Tax
Garbage Tax
Trade License
Police License
Municipal Tax
Minimum Wages
Surcharge
Special Additional Surcharge
Educational Cess
Secondary Educational Cess

Higher Secondary Education Cess
Earth Quake Cess
Tsunami Cess

And a lot more formalities like

PAN No.
TIN No.
BIN No.
DIN No.
IEC Code No.
Digital Signature
And a lot more

How can a person run a business here? Why doesnt the govt. collect one single tax and say go ahead and do good business. Concentrate and Develop your business and bring prosperity to the country.
The only reason is that the Govt wants to keep on putting their own people in different departments for the sake of getting votes. They claim that they are generating employment. Is this the way to generate employment?
Indian Govt never looks forward to new avenues.

Rgds
Vineet

Foreign Divorce validity in India - Is the MOIA making mockery of law

Satya Kumar has brought to the notice, the following :

Guys, You would not believe your eyes and ears when you read page 5 of 18th:
1) No marriage between an NRI and an Indian Woman, which has taken place in India, may be annulled by a foreign court
2) Provision may be made for adequate alimony to the wife in the property of the husband both in India and aborad
3) The decree granted by Indian courts may be made executable in foreign courts both on the principle of comity and by entering into reciprocal agreements like section 4A of the civil procedure code which makes a foreign decree executable as it would have been a decree passed by the court.read on :
http://www.moia.

My reply to this would be :

1) Absolutely right that no marriage between NRI and an Indian Woman, which has taken
place in India be anuulled by a foreign court. BUT, it should have conditions as follws :
(A) The word Indian Woman should be substituted with the word Spouse
(B) The husband and wife should not have lived together for more than 3 years.
(C) No spouse should not have mishandled/abused/tortured the other.
(D) If the cops/courts of that country where they are living together for more than a year
continuously, has found one of them guilty, should punsih the culprit and immediate
divorce without any payment to either be allowed.
2) Payment should only be the duty of the spouse who is guilty. The guilty will part away with half of his/her property to the other. Guilt should be defined properly here. Duty towards parents and children should also be considered strongly. Here, the wife should have duty towards the father-in-law and the mother-in-law because it is the wife who goes to the matrimonial house. in case the wife wants to take care of her parents, she should have gone into contract marriage where the husband should have gone to live with the wife and not vice versa.
3) If the agreement is reciprocal, how can the women's commission make such a claim. The foreigne decree has to be accepted in India as well.

Rgds
Vineet

Divide and Rule through Reservation? - policy of UPA or CPI(M) ?

Today, there is a new story on Prakash karat. He will be asking for reservation for OBC Muslims, Dalit Muslims etc. etc.

These bloody politicians are dividing people by caste and creed. Why? Just for votes. If he is seeking reservation, why at a higher level? Why not to bring up the person from the root? His Childhood?

Why dont the Indian Govt. provide free education from primary level to secondary level and bring up any damn person on merits? If a person does not know how to write his name till the time he reaches college, how can we expect him to become a doctor with a reserved seat in the University?
Will he treat the patients or retreat?

Rgds
Vineet

Bahu of Congress (I)

All the 3,000 families of Save Indian Family atleast know the way the congress has been sipping the blood of the country. The message will be revolving fast because when i say families, it does not include only men. It has the mother, sister and daughter as well.

Congress knows woman as only "Bahu". Because the congress itself is dependent on one "Bahu"

It is a matter of shame that the congress could not find a president of Indian origin out of 100 crore Indians. Including my self, we Indians are eunuchs who do not have the capacity to run the country.

Rgds
Vineet