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Saturday, November 11, 2006

The Domestic Violence Law of India - Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

As an Indian Citizen, I am extremely concerned by the Domestic Violence Act. The feminist organizations have been hailing this act and presenting it as empowerment of domestic abuse victims. However, there is no recourse for men who are victimized in their houses. The law lends itself to very easy misuse and is a gross violation of human rights of half the population. The fact is that due to this law, men will be emotionally, mentally and financially abused. As so delicately put by the concerned minister Ms. Renuka Chaudhary - "Its now men's turn to suffer".

It is clear by the actions Ms. Renuka Chaudhary, that her real agenda is to legally cripple and victimize men on behalf of radical feminists. She is vehemently opposed to making the law gender neutral. Her arguments have been the following - "If men are suffering, they should speak up" or "it is predominantly the woman who suffers". What confounds me is that if the law is made gender neutral, it does not take away ANY benefit from the real women victims of domestic abuse AND it provides help to male victims as well. The irony is that the Minister herself readily admits that the law will be misused. So, her solution? "What if this law is misused ? Every law is misused". Bravo !! So, now the Govt. is actually encouraging the misue of the law here ? Some more comments by Renuka Chaudhary - "If men behave, they have nothing to fear". But what if the men behave and the women misbehave ? Today, in urban India, when a woman does not want to be in a marriage, she promptly files a dowry case along with the divorce and legally harrasses and extorts money from the innocent husband and his family after they have been in jail for no crime of theirs. If a woman wants to walk out of a relationship, there is nothing to dissuade her from filing false cases and the lawyers actually encourage that.


There are three fundamental problems with the domestic violence law – a) it is overwhelmingly gender biased in favor of women, b) the potential for misuse is astounding and c) the definition of domestic violence is too expansive. There are degrees of domestic violence and not all conflicts in a relationship can be termed as domestic violence. This law trivializes the issue of domestic violence by including minor differences in its realm and by explicitly denying protection to half of the population.


The law in its current form is grossly inadequate to tackle the problem of domestic violence. It imposes a lot of responsibility on men, without giving them rights. On the other hand, it gives lots of rights to women without requiring them to be responsible. At the very minimum, it should be made gender neutral, offering protection to both men and women. Also, provisions for stringent punishments need to be incorporated into the law to prevent misuse. Moreover, the law needs to be made more practical by differentiating between various degrees of conflicts and by unambiguously defining what constitutes domestic violence.


The fact is domestic violence is a serious problem and a neutral and unprejudiced law is needed to protect the genuine victims of domestic violence, irrespective of gender. The perpetrators of domestic violence need to be appropriately punished and dealt with. At the same time, protection cannot be withheld from real victims for any reason whatsoever, least of all their gender. One can be certain that there is something sinister about a law, when it intimidates and instills fear in innocent people. When a person who has not committed any crime, begins to fear punishment under the provisions of a law, it is not a law anymore – it is state sponsored terrorism.


Nishant Agrawal

California, USA

My blog - savemarriages.wordpress.com

Note to the Editor - Most of the voices heard on this topic are of feminists and of well meaning people who do not understand the law completely and are just taken in by the propaganda of feminists, without even realizing it. Empowering women is a noble goal but empowering women by victimizing men is gross injustice. Please read the law and its implications at presentindia.blogspot.com. I hope that you will publish my concerns in your esteemed newspaper.

PS - I belive this issue is of paramount importance to the health and well being of the society and the country in general. I have seen many of my innocent collegaues from IITs been victimized by the dowry law and it completely destroys the young man, his ambitions and his outlook towards life.

Abt me
I am a proud Indian and have been fortunate enough to be have attended the best educational institutes of India (including stints in IT-BHU, IIT-Bombay and IIM-Ahmedabad). I have worked with the topmost companies in India and abroad (Hindustan Lever Ltd., Microsoft etc.). Lately, I have become an activist for gender equality and justice. Currently, I work for one of the most beloved internet companies in the world and live in California, USA

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

FACTS IN SIMPLE ENGLISH

India is so divided as it is and such laws will only send females to some sector of the men population....eg men police, men lawyers, men judges. As per the law, men are not trusted it seems and most of the people handling the cases are men. This is the place where the same ladies will say yes sir and can end up doing whatever is said to them and will have to keep the mouth shut also, and later realise what real trouble can be.

Let all that happen and then when they don’t have any place to go to, then the lesson will be learnt…..is this what we want to happen to our sisters, wives and mothers? Don’t you think it will be too late by then? Meaning….. where will they complain when harassed by men police, men lawyers, and men judges? These guys may not be your husbands but they will still be men. Will they care for you more than your husbands? Will they truly care for you?

Lot needs to be done to have good population of men police, men lawyers, men judges etc before letting these women go to these men. I say this because men are not trusted as per the law. It is like a case where a woman law maker is sending a poor cow to a lion hoping that the lion is a vegetarian. Note for the law maker (specially the female law maker):- Please first sort out other problems before this creates more problems for the society.

NOW YOU MIGHT BE THINKING:- IS THIS IS WRITTEN BY A MAN OR A WOMAN? THIS IS WRITTEN BY A HUMAN BEING. UK.

Anonymous said...

FROM THIS 498A SECTION AND HOW IT WORKS, IT SEEMS THAT IT IS VERY VERY SAFE FOR AN INDIAN LADY FROM INDIA TO MARRY AN INDIAN POLICE-MAN, INDIAN MAN LAWYER, INDIAN MAN JUDGE. .....ARE THEY ALL PERFECT AND UNTOUCHABLE BY THE LAW???!!! AND IS THE REST OF THE MEN POPULATION UNTOUCHABLE BY THE WOMEN POPULATION???!!! UK PERSON.

Anonymous said...

Lot needs to be done to have good population of men police, men lawyers, men judges etc before letting these women go to these men. I say this because men are not trusted as per the law. It is like a case where a woman law maker is sending a poor cow to a lion hoping that the lion is a vegetarian. Note for the law maker (specially the female law maker):- Please first sort out other problems before this creates more problems for the society. UK Guy