09.30.08
SIFF National Meet News Coverage
09.29.08
SIFF National Meet Reportoire
It was the enigmatic ambiance of Goa and the serene silence, decorated with the soothe of sea waves, of the beach that all sparked the mood for the national meet of Goa for the 60 odd leaders and activists of the Save Indian Family campaign. Having had assembled for their proposed national meet, as reported by leading national dailies viz. the Times of India, Deccan Chronicle to name a few, to discuss strategies to intensify their campaign against the misuse of gender biased laws, the meet turned out to be more than just strategy discussion as the event started with fun and banter followed by an awards function.
After introduction by the key members, the individual NGOs working and sharing concerns with the Save Indian Family Foundation that had sent their representatives came forward to discuss their strengths and weaknesses. Those present were from
1) Save Indian Foundation, Bangalore and Nagpur,
2) Indiya Kudumba Pathukappu Iyakkam Chennai,
3) Save Family Foundation and MyNation Foundation Delhi,
4) Pati Pariwar Kalyan Samiti, Lucknow,
5) Protect Indian Family, Mumbai,
6) Sahana, Hyderabad,
7) Bharat Bachao Sangathan, Kolkata, and
Children’s Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP), Bangalore.
The NGOs as mentioned above and in the order presented their individual strengths and weaknesses. This discussion worked as the first step towards consolidation of strategies and brainstorming of steps to strengthen the movement in general. Newly upcoming Chattisgarh NGO had also sent its wishes and message via the representative of the Nagpur NGO.
Kumar Jahgirdar, the President of CRISP, discussed the vision and mission of CRISP and a collective goal was set to achieve regional expansion of CRISP in to new geographies. Members from national chapters expressed their solidarity and support by filling in the membership forms for CRISP. The event also marked the launch of the website of CRISP by the name of http://www.crisp-india.org.
The discussion event was followed by splitting the members present into 5 separate task groups of 5 – 7 members each on an average. Each of the task group was assigned a topic and was given 90 minutes to come up with a comprehensive strategy to be implemented in the concerned area of development. The areas of development were,
1) How to expand into new geographies and how to retain and grow the existing chapters?
2) Effective counseling techniques for newly joined victims who face abuse and approach the NGOs.
3) Effective lobbying techniques with the authorities and create the desired level of visibility for the Save Indian Family movement.
4) Calendar of events for the next one year.
5) More and potential areas of research.
After the stipulated time, the individual task groups came up with ideas / strategies in their respective area assigned and also the challenges currently faced in that area. The same were discussed, noted and the activists will be working on improvement of these areas to strengthen the movement and make the cause more audible and visible.
With so much of brainstorming happening since morning, the call of the day was a break which came as a surprise event in the form of an award function mainly aimed to act as a motivating tonic to identify key contributions, both individual and group. Five categories of awards were designed and various nominations were identified and the final awards were compiled by a jury formed of the senior most leaders of the movement. The categories of nominations were:-
1) Lifetime achievement award – This award went to the oldest member of the movement who has been a victim and has been raising voice against this misuse in the internet since the past 9 years.
2) Best Chapter Award – This award went to the Nagpur NGO who has emerged as the fastest growing chapter by utilizing all the knowledge that is available and converted the same in to an executable plan and achieved some wonderful results in a very short span of time.
3) Most Outstanding contribution – This award went to the vociferous fighter of the Save Indian Family Campaign who has written the bible for the victims of the abuse in the form of the “498a Survival Kit.”
4) Best fight back strategy – This award went to the commando who was instrumental in getting justice to one of those unfortunate 56, 000 married men who commit suicide. This relates back to the suicide by Shri Pushkar Singh of Lucknow being unable to bear the torture of a false case against him of dowry harassment by his wife and in – laws. In spite of the suicide note left behind clearly accusing his wife and in – laws of his suicide, as the authorities were restraining themselves in taking action, our commando mobilized and motivated 35 members from Delhi and U.P. to raise voice against the grave injustice and ensure restoration of faith in the criminal justice system.
5) Influencing the authorities - This award went to our legal stalwarts team, the Chennai NGO for being successfully instrumental in bringing to task 11 police officers ranging from a Head Constable, right up to the Dy. Comm. Of Police for negligence of duty and violation of human rights principles. They have been summoned by the National Human Rights Commission. Normally such a huge number of officers are summoned in case of communal riots. But this is the first time that in an individual case does one get to see such an attempt to repair miscarriage of justice.
Having thus completed the awards ceremony, the team headed towards dinner and happy hours of informal mingling and experience sharing and further discussions of improvement areas and finally parted for the day.
The second day of the meet was more of a culmination than a continuation which started with rejuvenation and ended with celebration on the end of a successful meet. It has been decided that the annual meet will be continued in future for reviewing the strategies and identifying rooms of improvement.
Thanks and Regards
Virag
Public Relations Officer
Save Indian Family Foundation
09.24.08
National Meet – Press Conference
Date: 25 / 09 / 2008
Place: Bangalore
Activists of the Save Indian Family campaign are meeting from all over India in Goa this weekend (27-28th Sept) to intensify agitation for amendment of dowry laws and domestic violence laws. Their demands are that dowry laws be made bailable and non-cognizable and domestic violence laws to be made gender neutral in larger interest of the society. The spate of actions taken by the radical feminists in sidelining the moderates and wreaking havoc on innocent people in the name of Women Empowerment has already done a lot of damage to the Women Empowerment movement and its credibility. Save Indian Family Foundation does not want further deterioration of the society and hence hopes that the Govt. will do well by taking the above demands into consideration and not buckle under the pressure of radical feminists. It is high time that the media takes cudgels in presenting to the Society the bitter truth about radical feminists who are calling the shots.
It is to be noted that the Govt. made several laws to tackle dowry menace. It all started in 1961, with the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. Then Section 498A, Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) in 1983 and the very recent Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, passed in 2006. Quintessentially all of the above three try to achieve the same objective and unfortunately enough none is successful so far as now, these radical feminists want some more laws as they continue to ignore the extravagant marriages and inaction of dowry prohibition officers in curbing the dowry menace.
It is to be noted that Women’s organizations have got and are still getting millions of dollars from the Govt. and from International agencies to implement stringent anti-male, laws ultra-vires the Indian Constitution for fighting against dowry. And now that they have got used to it, if the dowry menace is eliminated with proper implementation of the existing laws, then they will not get the funds and attention. So, they go soft on dowry exchange during marriages and yet cry for more laws so that men and their families can be harassed and money can be extorted from them.
It is worthwhile to be noted here that nowadays, women do not hesitate in filing 4-5 civil and criminal lawsuits for the same allegations on their husbands, blatantly and out rightly violating Article 20 of the Indian Constitution which clearly says that no person can be tried / punished twice for the same offense. The cases filed include lawsuits under Dowry Prohibition Act, then another under section 498A of the IPC. Then one more under Domestic Violence Act and one more under maintenance and so on and so forth.
But now Indian men have learned to fight and are giving stiff resistance to such wild practices and will continue to do so till the laws are not amended and the perpetrators of this misuse, aptly termed by the Honorable Supreme Court of India as Legal Terrorism, are not brought to task. It is interesting to note that in India, terrorists and hooligans are roaming freely and the Govt. does not want to bring back TADA / POTA but the same Govt. continues with arbitrary arrests of the 1,20,000 women in last 4 years without any trial or investigation and the same is also justified by radical feminist organizations. Such practices can only be ridiculed at best and termed as grave mockery by the Govt. taking potshots at the people’s patience.
Save Indian Family Foundation regrets to mention that in spite of nationwide awareness campaigns launched by it since the last three years and bringing this to the notice of the Govt. about the rampant misuse, still if the Govt. continues to ignore, the people will have no choice but to take the law in their own hands losing complete faith on the law of the land.
It is so pathetic that the Govt. is funding radical feminist organizations, which are no way different from any radical fundamentalist organizations so far as their intolerance is concerned as it is evident from the silence of these radicals on the arrests of 1,20,000 women.
It is also a sad reality that the government is completely ignoring the suicides of Indian men to the tune of close to 80,000 a year with married men forming a sizeable chunk of it to the tune of 56,000 (on average) a year.
We wonder whose life is in more danger in the country: Men or Women?
· As per the National Crime Records Bureau data of 2005:
o Married Men Suicides = 52000 vs. Married Women Suicides = 28000.
· As per the National Crime Records Bureau data of 2006:
o Married Men Suicides = 55452 vs. Married Women Suicides = 29869
· For a wife, even adultery is not a crime (it is a rewarding option and free money earning business for the whole life), but for a husband even an allegation of “Name-calling“ is a crime and not only the man, but his mother/sister/age-old father can also be put behind the bars for this ‘crime’ under IPC 498A or DV act.
The Chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW), Dr. Girija Vyas had enough time to take steps to eradicate the social evil called dowry exchange. Although the NCW has proposed multiple laws but sadly enough none are ever implemented in true spirit. If the dowry practice still exists, then it is a complete failure of the NCW and Girija Vyas and for that Save Indian Family Foundation demands resignation of Dr. Vyas and closure of the NCW.
More recently we had a very unfortunate judgment from the Honorable Supreme Court as well, wherein the Supreme Court granted apology to a husband who accepted taking dowry. When the law has clearly laid down that both giving and taking dowry is a crime, why were the criminals not punished and let go off with an apology? Does this not mean that the law of the land has no meaning and has been only enacted to terrorize innocent citizens and extort their hard earned money from them?
With an ending note Save Indian Family Foundation likes to remind the civil society as well of its duty to raise voice against the injustice going on under the barb and paradoxical veil of Women Empowerment and to the Govt. to make family an issue in the coming elections. And that these laws need to be replaced by some more benign, sensible, gender-neutral legislation that may ensure women their rightful, honorable place at home and abroad, while at the same time not forgetting the rights of the men.
Thanks and Regards
Virag
Public Relations Officer
Save Indian Family Foundation, Bangalore
09.20.08
Brotherhood to the rescue
True and genuine victory they say it comes often unheard, silent and unexpected as it came to the thousands of those silent and not so silent warriors and commandos of the Save Indian Family Campaign as they saw their brother Raja Choudhary, defeat the male – hater feminist Sambhavna Seth. This is being referred to the reality show Big Boss 2 on Colors channel, wherein the concept of people staying together and getting eliminated for rude / bad behavior is followed. They are constantly watched by an unknown person, referred to as Big Boss who monitors them and settles disputes if the need so arises.
What was most surprising and unbecoming of a watchdog was the undue gender bias in favor of abusive women. Sambhavna Seth is a male – hater feminist who has abused Rahul Mahajan as well earlier on the show showering expletives against him and his family, but that matter was settled amicably. But when Raja Choudhary objected to Sambhavna’s male abuse, she started shredding crocodile tears and complained to Big Boss who without listening to Raja nominated him for eviction.
It was then where the three thousand odd warriors of Save Indian Family jumped in and voted continuously and non – stop for Raja in addition to his other fans who loved and adored him. Finally the verdict came on Friday the 19th of September 2008, when Raja was saved from eviction due to the tremendous support that he received not only from Save Indian Family but his other fans as well.
Though Raja won this testimony and was back into the show but this again gives rise to the concept of Men’ Rights and their despicable position in the society. Was the period of tension that Raja underwent plus the stigma of nomination for eviction that he got stamped with, was really worth the issue? The answer from a logical standpoint of rational understanding would a big NO without giving any significance to undue sentimental balance in favor of any gender. And, moreover for how long is the society going to put unnecessary pressure on men to accommodate bad and abusive women? For how long sexists like Big Boss are going to annihilate men’s rights to satiate their own personal desires?
One may argue Raja was abusive towards Sambhavna, but so was Sambhavna towards other males as well. Abuse of a man by a woman is Women Empowerment and the abuse of a woman by a man is crime? Is it not double standards? The answer to the above again from a logical standpoint of rational understanding would a very much acceptable YES. And such double standards, from a non – feasible practicality, may still be acceptable for a common man but not from someone like Big Boss who is not only watched by millions around the world, but is also expected to be fairly unbiased in his approach. To this requirement Big Boss fails miserably having ignored material facts and not giving ample opportunity to Raja for proving himself innocent.
The mandate of such a requirement gains significant weight age also from a non – descript fact that the Indian Social Diaspora is heavily influenced by celebrity behavior and showing abuse against men as acceptable sets immoral precedents and spreads poison in the society which jeopardizes the social position of both men and women in the precincts of societal relevance.
Save Indian Family Foundation, Bangalore, one of the NGOs propagating the cause of Save Indian Family campaign strongly urges the Big Boss to not to repeat such incidences of sexism and undue gender bias in future to prevent further damage to, and contribution to the same. to the already deteriorating society. This note is ended with a feeling of joy for Raja’s victory.
09.18.08
Justice Dhingra Restores Justice
Justice Dhingra, well on his way to the pantheon of great Indian judges, recently received an application to take cognizance of criminal contempt of court against some respondents in a 498a case from the excuse of a Metropolitan Magistrate of Patiala House.
Read what he had to say about this scumbag Magistrate:
- The learned MM seems to have spent a lot of time in framing this reference petition which runs into 37 pages and annexures to the reference run into another more than 100 pages. After perusal of the entire reference I find the reference is not worth the paper wasted by the learned MM on it. I find no imputation had been made against the learned MMs Court but of bias which was inferred from the orders passed by him. It is surprising that the learned MM should have sent this reference of contempt only on the allegations of bias made against him. However, on perusal of this reference, I feel that the learned MM definitely seems to be biased in favour of the wife and against the husband and other in-laws. Otherwise, there was no reason for him to get provoked for sending this reference, so that the family members of the husband are called by this Court in criminal contempt, despite the fact that no person insinuation was made against him.
- I consider it is a right of every litigant, who is facing proceeding in a Court, that justice should not only be done but should also seem to be done and if a litigant feels that what he was seeing was not justice but injustice, he has a right to move transfer application and if bias is inferred from the orders passed by the Court, the Court has no reason to send a reference for criminal contempt. This reference is rejected. There is no ground to summon the respondents. A copy of this order be sent to the District Judge, Delhi. A copy of this order be also sent to the Inspecting Judge of the learned MM and to Honble the Chief Justice.
It is precisely this kind of a scumbag who denied my mom and sister bail after being bought by my ex-father In law.
Justice Dhingra has yet again shown us the way and added one more weapon to our arsenal to fight back against this extortion racket.
Here is the order from Justice Dhingra.
Open Letter to Demand Closure of NCW
To
<Concerned Authorities>
Date: 18 / 09 / 08
Ref. no: SIFF/0908/02
Sub: Ban NCW and their associates – for promotion of Legal Terrorism in India.
Respected Sir,
This is pertaining to the recent proposal of amending National Commission of Women (NCW) Act 1990, elevating the status of National Commission of Women to that of a Civil Court with powers of prosecution and execution under various IPCs for criminal offences too. The NCW has proposed powers equivalent of a Union Minister to the chairperson and that of a state minister to the members of the
National Commission of Women. Save Indian Family Foundation, a non – profit, non funded NGO, promoted to the cause of spreading the message of Gender Equality and Family Harmony in the society, has some strong objections to such a proposal and demands the ban of NCW, their associated organizations and Lawyers associated with them as per the provisions of section 4-3(d) and 4-3(f) of the National Commission for Women Act 1990 (NCW Act). Section 4-3: The Central Government shall remove a person from the office of Chairperson or a Member referred to in sub-section (2) if
that person- (d) refuses to act or becomes incapable of acting; (f) in the opinion of the Central
Government has so abused the position of Chairperson or Member as to render that person’s continuance in office detrimental to the public interest;
NCW was set up in 1992 to: review the Constitutional and Legal safeguards for women;
1) recommend remedial legislative measures ;
2) facilitate redressal of grievances and
3) advise the Government on all policy matters affecting women.
NCW have already grossly taken undue advantage of powers bestowed on them to draft ridiculous laws like 498A, 304B, CrPC 125, PWDV Act of 2005 that has resulted in grave injustice to women. Some startling impact of laws proposed by them and implemented by the government are:
It took Britishers 10 years to arrest 5000 women(1937-47) but more than 95000 women (18 times) were arrested under IPC 498A in just 4 years (2004 – 2007) without trial and investigation.
The maximum number of women arrested by the barbaric British Government in 1930 was approx 17000 women for their involvement in Dandi Yatra (Salt March), which is much less than what the women being
arrested today every year. NCW refuses to entertain complaints filed by mothers and sisters of
husbands who are harassed by their daughter-in-law/sister-in-law and their relatives.
NCW is openly promoting the Legal Terrorism in this country through duplication of laws and violating the Indian constitutions article 14 / 20 / 21 and refuses to show any concern to protect the constitutional
duty to save the life and property of every citizens of India.
We at Save Indian Family Foundation have numerous reasons to support our demand of Intervention of the Home Ministry for the dissolution of the present commission and Ban NCW.
As per provision of section 4-3(d) the Refusal to act or becoming incapable of acting on part of the commission chairperson or members, the central govt. may remove that chairperson or any member from his post. Below are some examples:
As per section 10-1(a) and 10-1(f)(i) of the NCW Act, defining the functions of the commission, NCW is supposed to take cognizance and investigate complaints from women where women are being deprived of their rights or for the matters relating to the safeguards provided to the women under constitution. But we regret to report to you that even after being given powers to investigate and declared as the biggest
single organization representing women of India the NCW has refused to entertain the complaints of women. We at Save Indian Family Foundation herewith are attaching with this letter two such refusals as Annexure A-1, A-2.
Does these women, fall under the definition of woman as per NCW? Does the mandate given to the commission by central govt. actually make any differentiation between one women or the other?
Or is it like there is no regulatory body to stop or at least monitor the NCW, acting on their own whims and fancies?
It has been more than two years since the Right to Information Act, 2005 came into force. NCW even after provided with heavy grants to the tunes of crores and central govt. appointed staff is not able to setup a proper administrative system for the redressal of the applications under Right to Information Act, even after repeated warnings from chief information commissioners..
The latest example of such incapability could be seen from the Complaint Nos. CIC/WB/C/2008/00425 & 426 dated 12-5-2008 to the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) regarding the famous case of brutal killing of children at Nithari, Noida. The National Commission for women has tried everything to hide the letters written to the Prime Minister Office giving false status of the case and then tried to save their skin by making mockery of the RTI Act and hiding the copy of the letter to PMO from the Indian citizen, The below excerpts from decision of the chief information commission and the sharp, shameful comments from the CIC questions the capability of the present commission and the continuance of the present chairperson on the present post.
“Having heard the arguments and examined the files we are constrained to observe with deep regret the lack of a functional system in the National Commission for Women in dealing with so important a case that was brought before the NCW by Commander Lokesh K. Batra. It is strongly recommended under the authority vested in us by Sec 19 (8) sub-section (a) to the Ministry of Women & Child Development that the Ministry institute a regular administrative structure for the Commission, which will then bring its functioning into conformity with the RTI Act, 2005 by instituting a system of maintenance of records in
keeping with Sec 4(1), particularly sub-section (a). This exercise may be completed within thirty days of the issue of this decision notice under intimation to Sh PKP Shreyaskar, Jt Registrar, Central
Information Commission.”
The complete judgment of the CIC is attached herewith as Annexure-B.
As per provision of section 4-3(f), if in the opinion of the Central Government any member or chairperson of the commission has abused the position of Chairperson or Member as to render that person’s continuance in office detrimental to the public interest, the central govt. may remove that chairperson or any member from his post.
Below are some examples:
The malicious intentions of NCW at present are to destroy our Indian society under the influence of foreign funding agencies by misguiding Indian public through projecting white lies and false statistics. The
false claim by National Commission for Women (NCW) that in 70% of divorce / maintenance cases adultery is being misused to disgrace women under Section 125 of CrPC is latest example how NCW is
projecting false figures of statistics which in reality doesn’t exists at all.
There was an article in Times of India dated 18th August 2007 titled “Wives accused of adultery must get alimony: NCW”, Annexure-C-1. In this article the chairperson of NCW Ms Grija Viyas claims that the
provisions in Section 125 of CrPC are being misused to discredit the women and adultery cases are framed against women to deny her basic expenses; and NCW will move Supreme Court for review of Section 125 of CrPC.
On the same lines there was another article in Times of India dated 30th June 2008 titled “Maintenance for live-in partner”, Annexure-C-2. In this article NCW claims that in 70% of divorce/maintenance cases
adultery is being misused to discredit woman, woman is disgraced and denied her rights.
Based on these Articles women rights activist filed an RTI (Annexure-C-3) on 9th July 2008 requesting NCW to provide her- “Any Govt. or Commission report, survey or any other statistics collected by Govt. by which NCW can claim that in 70% of divorce/ maintenance cases adultery is being misused to discredit woman, woman is disgraced and denied her rights”.. In reply to her RTI, on 24th July 2008, (Annexure-C-4) NCW categorically stated that “NCW does not have any records which show that in 70% maintenance cases under Section 125 of CrPC adultery has been alleged and proven misused by respondents”.
NCW chairperson herself was misguiding and misleading Indian people. Any such vague and irresponsible statement in media by the chairperson of an organization which represents the women of this democratic country puts a question mark on her holding that post. The chairperson of NCW has gone to the extent of taking refuge under lies and false statistics to push for the dangerous projects of foreign funding agencies. There were similar other questions asked in that RTI which were answered the same way and could be read thoroughly in the Annexures attached.
The NCW in order to save their skin has misrepresented the facts about Nithari child killings case even to the prime minister in her letter to PMO dated 15th Jan 2007. The exposure by Indian express daily as attached in the Annexure-D here could be referred here. The NCW chairperson wrote a letter to the prime minister and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi that “NCW had taken prompt action as soon as report of missing girls was brought to its notice” but “neither guardians nor parents of the missing girls nor any media person or any other organization approached us (NCW) for any further action.”
But the real fact was that a social activist Usha Thakur was following that nithari case and her complaints were pending before NCW, even then the wrong information to the PMO was defended saying:
“availability of the complaint was not known to the Chairperson (Girija Vyas) and other senior officials at the time of writing the letters to the honorable Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi.”
Save Indian Family Foundation strictly objects to the stewardship of the existing chairperson, Smt Girija Vyas. She has a chequered past and has been involved in “The Petrol Pump” Scam. The news came in
every daily, including the Indian Express edition dated October 24, 2004. The news can be found as annexed in Annexure-E.
Some excerpts from the reported news of corruption are reproduced below:
Considering that two members of the DSB (Dealer Selection Board) were officers from oil companies which are controlled by the Petroleum Ministry, the judges were of the opinion that Vyas’s position in the
Consultative Committee resulted in a biased evaluation of qualifications.
Vyas failed to fully disclose her income. A letter from Registrar of Mohan Lal Sukhadia University showed that Vyas was working as an Associate Professor until October 10, 1999 whereas the income
statement furnished by her did not indicate the amount received from the University during April-September 1999.
Vyas did not include the pension she receives for being an ex-MLA while certifying that her income was below the mandatory Rs 2-lakh ceiling. Vyas was MLA from Udaipur City during 1985-1990. Dealer selection rules seek a full-time dealer to run the pumps. The committee was of the view that Vyas should have resigned from Parliament after her selection. Vyas did not do so.
What could be said about the conduct of a chairperson who has lied and pulled strings to get Petrol Pump dealership, lied and fudged statistics about adultery in maintenance cases to push for the agenda best known to her and her inability to do anything for more than 1,20,000 innocent women who were arrested in last four years under draconian women protection laws.
It has just come to our notice that NCW now wants to have the powers of a civil court with powers of execution and punishment and status of Union ministers within the scope of NCW act 1990. We are just
surprised that they haven’t asked for Z category protection from the numerous women of the country, illegally jailed. We failed to understand what women empowerment would result out of these demands despite the fact that while investigating any complaint, members or chairperson of the commission are already empowered to execute all the powers of a civil court trying a suit as per provision of section 10-4 of the NCW Act?
The amendments proposed by NCW in the NCW Act 1990 are as vague and clumsily drafted as the first drawing of a baby. It is an attempt to create a parallel judiciary and sow the seed of fatal gender discrimination. It is a dangerous attempt to get extra constitutional powers, even above judiciary, executive and legislature, in the name of women welfare.
Save Indian Family Foundation explains below a point wise analysis of how the amendments to NCW Act suggested by the present commission are vague, absurd and extra constitutional:
Preliminary Objections:
The law of this democratic country is beyond any caste, religion and gender differentiation. Despite all the appreciations and criticism, even the constitutionally appointed judiciary has failed to avoid the
natural inclination of the Indian male to sympathize with a woman.
Will NCW be able to maintain the gender equality as per our constitution while trying any offence against any woman? Will it initiate proceedings against a woman if she was found to be lying? Will it readily accept the grievances of men too? Will it maintain the equality within same gender i.e. all women will be considered as women?
A court of law, supposed to be a temple of justice, is a place where people get their grievances redressed in a procedural manner and such a temple has a very high demand to be fair, unbiased, impartial and just. Granting the status equivalent to court to a women’s commission is direct and in – the – face discrimination against men who are anyways facing a lot of discrimination even in the current scenario
when NCW has no judicial powers and every year more than double the number of men are committing suicides than women, thanks to the heavily lopsided and duplicated laws supported and pampered by NCW.
One can only imagine the situation when such a body filled with people of anti – male views assumes a position of power. As the state women commissions are formed on the state’s commission
acts which are on the lines of National Commission for Women act itself, the same powers i.e. the status of union ministers and power of civil courts, would be demanded by state women commissions too.
Will NCW be allowed to create a parallel judiciary for women while commission members failed to maintain any transparency and found indulged in crimes like demanding bribe and even facing charges of
cruelty for demand of dowry? The latest example is where Andhra Pradesh state women commission chairperson was caught red handed demanding bribe for listening to women complaints. The chief minister had to demand her resignation as a face saving measure. The complete turn of events could be read in the attached Annexure-D which is a clip of news published in the Deccan Herald.
ENRAGED CHIEF MINISTER SEEKS CHAIRMANS RESIGNATION AP women’s panel chief exposed in sting: http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Sep152007/national2007091525535.asp Annexure-F.
These are the officials who are supposed to look after the welfare of women! Nice. They may want start by learning about something called professionalism. Here is a corroboration of the allegations of slapping people by state commission member, Annexure-G: Mary Ravindranath slaps accused in sexual harassment case http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/21/stories/2006112110870400.htm
Section wise Analysis and Objections:
Amendment Sought: Section 3: Constitution of the National Commission for Women – Sub-section 2,
clause (c)- in the opening portion, after the words ‘the Central Government’ the words ‘ in consultation with the Chairperson’ shall be inserted.
As per the provisions of section 9-3 of the present NCW Act, the Member Secretary is supposed to authenticate all the orders and decisions of the commission and is a representative/watchdog of the central govt. over the affairs of NCW, besides his/her responsibilities of facilitating, organizing and monitoring the activities of the commission. But if the amendment sought in the section 3-2(c) were accepted, Member Secretary will just be a rubber stamp and act like a puppet in the hands of commission.
Amendment Sought: Insertion of new Sub-Section 8 of Section 10: Will NCW punish any woman found guilty of the offences under same IPC sections 193, 195, 196 etc. or it will surrender considering her sob
story and presumption since the Britishers colonial times that “a woman is always a victim”?
Amendment Sought: Insertion of new Sub-Section 9 of Section 10: Due to this subsection regarding Initiation of prosecution, immunity of elected public representatives, judicial officers, diplomats and
all, will be jeopardized. The elected public representatives, judges, diplomats and foreign delegates are protected by law and initiation of prosecution against them requires a prior permission from different
authorities. The time limit sought to be fixed under this amendment and then the assumption that if such permission is not granted within 30 days it shall be deemed to have been granted by the authorities
will make these high profile people vulnerable to any false criminal prosecution.
On the other hand, how could their demand of powers of a civil court result in a conviction for a criminal offence? This is the height of absurdity in the amendment sought as a civil court is supposed to try
a civil crime only. The Save Indian Family Foundation, on the other hand doesn’t support any criminal law and trial in family matters at least, except heinous crimes against women.
Amendment Sought: Insertion of new Section10A:
According to the section 8 of the present NCW act, the commission at any time is having all the powers to
Appoint committees having as many members as required for the investigation purposes. All these committees and NCW members can use the executive powers and complete govt. machinery to investigate any complaint matter. We failed to understand the proposal sought to appoint a number of commissioners and giving all the powers of investigative agencies under CrPC 1973.
Amendment Sought: Insertion of new Section10B:
According to Criminal Procedure Code, section 360, “No court when it has signed its judgment or final order disposing of a case, shall alter or review the same except to correct a clerical or arithmetical
error”.
When constitutionally appointed judges are not given any authority or right to take back their decision when reserved, how could any commission acting with powers of a civil court trying for offences
which could result in an imprisonment be allowed to amend or revoke their orders at any time?
Amendment Sought: Insertion of new Section16 A & B:
The provisions of penalties and punishments sought in this act could not be allowed at all. The NCW is supposed to be a watchdog on the investigating agencies but are not supposed to jump in the
investigations themselves. The NCW is supposed to deal the family matters and women issues with due sensitivity but the prescribed punishment in terms of imprisonment and such heavy fine under these
sections of the NCW act just shows the kind of criminal society they want to make. The amount of such high fines and punishment doesn’t reflect any the commitment of NCW towards women and family.
The so called offences under these sections are not offences of any
kind but just an excuse to grab the passports/ the salary/property etc of poor husbands.
Amendment Sought: Insertion of new Section16 C:
As the supreme courts are having the interstate jurisdiction and should be trying the cases of constitutional crises, the High Courts in every state are the highest judicial authorities for every Indian
citizen. The basic principle of law allows every citizen to approach district and session courts for relief sought as per their convenience and choice and if aggrieved by the judgment of the subordinate court the citizen may approach the honb’le High court in the state. By limiting the jurisdiction for the cases arising out of the orders or decisions under this amended NCW act, NCW cannot be allowed to highjack the basic rights of an Indian citizen.
Has NCW before raising this demand conducted any study on infrastructural requirements at the High courts level?
It looks like chairperson and members of NCW now want to turn this commission, a constitutional body into an extra constitutional one and above every law. Even they forgot one concept called separation of
powers? Otherwise there would have been no need of the Court/Judges/Police in this country?
The recent proposal to amend Dowry Prohibition Act 1961, to exclude the dowry giver from capital punishment is a direct promotion to dowry menace and saving the accused in a criminal offence. What could be the rationale behind such proposals and what women empowerment this would bring to the society? Will UPA govt. soon amend the Prevention of corruption act to exclude Bribe giver from any punishment as giving or taking of bribe both are also offences of the same magnitude? What
kind of chaotic and immoral future society NCW is promoting? This is a direct, open and intentional misuse of the mandate provided to the chair of the commission. NCW claims to be an autonomous but only an advisory body but it has even failed to work in tandem with ministry for Women and Child
Development (WCD). WCD is at present in the process of reviewing 498a
and PWDVA 2005 and had constituted a panel of senior lawyers also for the purpose. On the other hand NCW admits gross misuse of these acts but has published in leading dailies that it disagrees with WCD on any amendments in these laws.
On 25th June 2008 the NCW chairperson insulted the Honb’le minister Smt. Renuka Chwodhary by staging a walk out from the round table conference held to listen to men and their harassed family members for the review of IPC section 498a and Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005. While Minister of States (Independent charge) Ministry of women and child development was discussing misuse of both these laws with prominent researchers, social activists and representatives of some NGOs from all over the country, NCW chairperson and some other members walked out of the conference hall
in protest.
NCW wants whole sale free license to promote and support the legal terrorism and no one have the guts to question them for their wrong doing and they want to be above the law. Nobody at present is realizing that why the commission is now famous as a terrorist organization, as dangerous as other banned terrorist organizations like SIMI in this country?
The present chairperson of NCW is a spent force. She lost her last election and somehow landed this job by playing politics out of other candidates. This is a nice way to get a cabinet berth without any public mandate and bypassing the election commission on disclosure of assets and other niceties.
Save Indian Family Foundation strictly demand that the chairperson and members of the commission should be non political, person of eminence who is “committed to the cause of family”.
The post of chairpersons and members of the national commission for women or all state women commissions have become a method of appeasement for the political parties to keep their old loyalist happy who have lost their elections and public mandate. We request, people in whom public has lost faith should not be made representatives of any such organization which is working for the welfare of women at least.
Hence our request to you is to immediately ban the present NCW as per the clause (d) and (f) of subsection 3 of section 4 to save hordes of innocent women/men/child /age old people of this country whose life and property had been extorted by NCW and their associated organizations.
Thanks & Regards
09.10.08
Severely condemning derogatory ad on men
Save Indian Family Foundation, strongly and severely condemns the Derogatory Ad being telecast at the behest of Kitply Industries. The ad shows a young timid man getting married to a woman and on the first night the bed crumbles. The wife asks the husband, “Kitply nahi laye kya?” (Have you not bought Kitply?) and slaps the husband.
Openly, brazenly and cold – bloodedly this ad not only depicts Domestic Violence on men but also promulgates it, inspiring women to do it and telling men that this is a way of life. World over international studies have proved it beyond doubt that Domestic Violence is not a gender specific issue and is a matter of equal concern for both men and women.
The situation is far worse in India wherein gender biased, lopsided, avaricious, pernicious, draconian, anachronous and unconstitutional anti – male marital laws fail to recognize the presence of Domestic Violence and acknowledge the same for men. Yes, Domestic Violence laws in India do not consider the fact that men too could be victims of Domestic Violence the way women are presumed and prejudiced to be and the Domestic Violence law in India does not allow men to make complaints of Domestic Violence in India.
This despite the fact holding true that as per Government records i.e. suicide date published by National Crime Records Bureau, every year 56, 000 married men are committing suicide which is considered as a social service in a great country like India, where 82 % of taxes are paid by men. Neither do men have a Men Welfare Ministry for them nor a National Commission for Men to look into their grievances, whereas animals do have. The condition of Indian men is worse than animals in India.
To add to the woes men are subject to the constant fear of being dragged into false cases of dowry harassment and domestic violence draining them financially, socially, morally and spiritually in addition to being victims of Domestic Violence as well at the hands of their vindictive and vicious wives and in – laws who do not forget to file false cases of dowry harassment on the innocent men and their families and drag them to police station and court and unleash Legal Terrorism on them and extort money legally from them.
As if all this was no less, when corporates like Kitply Industries rain on men and promote Domestic Violence on men as a norm and when confronted for the same, shamelessly claim that it has been shown in a humorous mood, and shrug away from accountability. The contention that the ad was shown in a light spirit is subject to critical analysis and not becoming of a brand name Kitply Industries.
Save Indian Family Foundation, the single largest umbrella NGO for about 15 different NGOs fighting not only for men’s rights but also for Gender Equality and Family Harmony, severely condemns such derogatory ads and demands apology from Kitply Industries, failing which Save Indian Family Foundation will be forced to issue legal notices to them to respond properly.
One can only imagine the kind of euphoria that would have been generated if they had shown a man slapping a woman in similar manner. So when activists championing the cause of Equality for Women are crying foul, why are they now silent when Gender Equality is critically endangered and its existence seriously jeopardized with such derogatory ad content. This only depicts the hollow goals with which such activists work and want to rake in the mullah in the name of Women Empowerment and feminism but do not believe in actual equality based on truth and justice.
Save Indian Family Foundation re – iterates its demand of an apology from Kitply Industries and once again puts this question to the civil society and the government that how long are they continuing to consider men as second class citizens in their own country?
Alimony – The Trojan Horse of Matrimony
Irony defining life it seems has become a norm in today’s times. And it does not seem to spare the most controversial social institution, working as first step towards familial life, aka the INDIAN MARRIAGE. The irony here is that what starts as a pompous celebration and extravagant spending ends with financially, emotionally and spiritually draining litigation with mud – slinging from both sides aka the DIVORCE. And ending a marriage is very costly for a man, not only of because the fear of false cases of dowry harassment and domestic violence against him but also as he is liable to pay alimony or maintenance pedante lite to his wife.
The concept of alimony, although was designed with a noble intention of prevention of stranded and protection of destitute non – earning spouse, the same has increasingly become the single largest motivating factor for girls to break their marriages at the slightest sneeze of discomfiture in the relationship with their husbands. And in order to gain a beneficial and an empowered bargaining position in the negotiation for alimony they even do not refrain from filing false cases of Dowry Harassment against their husbands and in – laws and getting them arrested to plant fear in their mind to make them succumb to their heavy demands of alimony.
Thus, in today’s dynamic socio – economic scenario, alimony has become the Trojan Horse of matrimony. Girls know it very well that the moment they start losing control in the marriage or over their husband they can always walk out of it by entangling the husband in false cases of dowry harassment and domestic violence and harassing him so much that he agrees to pay the heavy ransom girls demand to release him from the forced slavery and give him the costly freedom called divorce.
Was ever alimony in divorce meant to be an easy route to tax – free money? Never. But with the existing rampant corruption amongst the police, judiciary and the legal system, men are made to pay heavy alimonies to their estranged wives for settling the false cases and everyone involved in the settlement gets a share of the pie. The practice is thriving like a flourishing business which is so anti – male in nature that every year 56, 000 married men are committing suicide, unable to bear the brunt of fallacy called, The Bad Marriage.
As its definition stands, alimony is subsistence – allowance which allows a non – capable spouse to maintain oneself post divorce. Spouses who are earning or are capable of earning based on their qualifications are not entitled to alimony. One might contend by the above definition that for working women / substantially educated women opting for divorce, as they are not entitled to alimony, their husbands need not worry, but it will be imperative to state here that increasing number of such cases are coming forth where either women have hidden the income and the fact that they earn or deliberately left job to squander money from husband.
Even if the woman is not able to maintain herself, then more than the husband, the parents of the woman are a greater culprit for not properly empowering their daughter with proper education and making her dependent on someone else, expecting that the marriage of their daughter with that person will last for eternity. And is it not the daughter’s right in her ancestral property, her legitimate due that she should get? Why are girl’s parents shrugging away from this responsibility of theirs and discriminating between a daughter and a son when distribution of wealth comes into picture? Why is it expected that only the husband is responsible to maintain the woman even when they are not staying together? Why the girl’s parents are not held responsible for such a condition of their daughter? Will the civil society at least think over these questions if not answer them?
