It’s Freedom Friday for harassed husbands near Nagpur; “Independence Day” today!!

It’s Freedom Friday for harassed husbands near Nagpur; “Independence Day” today!!

Nagpur News.
It’s a male’s day altogether…or the Husband’s Independence Day to be more precise. While the people across the nation might have celebrated Independence Day on Thursday in solidarity with the traditional practice, a handful group of men acted otherwise. Feeling leftover in the series of issues pertaining to individual rights, husbands have moved a step forward in affirming their self in their own right and marked Friday as their day of ‘Independence’. The city of Nagpur would be a part of the one of its kind revolution which is running into its fifth year.
5^th National Men’s Rights Conference 2013, an event jointly conducted by a group of organizations fighting for equal rights to men in Hindu marriages would be held Friday at
Pench Jungle Home Resort near Nagpur.
Arnab Ganguly, a member of one of the participating organization called INSAAF told Nagpur Today, “We have found Nagpur as our strong chapter. We have got strong support from over 3500 members here. It is centrally located and easier to reach. So this year we have chosen this venue for conducting our event.
He told Nagpur Today, “On Friday we will be conducting the conference while tomorrow we would be debating on marriage laws.”
He informed that last year we could not conduct the event as we had moved to Delhi to press for the amendments in Hindu Marriage Bill. “Our previous events were conducted in Shimla, Kolkata and Yercaud in Tamil Nadu. We are fighting for the men’s rights as the provisions of current Hindu marriage bill are extremely dangerous and essentially targeting men in Hindu marriages. It allows wives to acquire 50% of the ancestral property. Even when the Hindu man is not married, 50% is accorded to his wife although she has not contributed in the property. This is very dangerous act which affects Hindu families badly. It will push husbands to become criminals. We want the government to make amendments but it did not pay any heed. Even the proposal is awaiting to be tabled in Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. It would be put up by Monday or Tuesday,” he said.
Another organization Child Right Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP) working towards the equality of parenting rights among married men and women is participating in the movement to push the envelope further.
Kumar Jahangirdar, founder and president, CRISP said, “We did not participate in the celebrations Thursday to mark the country’s Independence Day. We, a group of men who are seeking parenting rights and joint custody of their child, are meeting in Nagpur on Friday to demand ‘freedom’ from women-centric laws.
Over 100 men from across the country would participate in today’s movement. CRISP, which has been fighting for the rights of fathers and children for more than five years, in partnership with Save Indian Family, has organised this annual event which would be conducted for fifth year in a row.
Among the issues slated for discussion during the summit are Marriage Laws Amendment Bill of 2010. “The law makers have an assumption that children always live with the mother and she alone is enough to protect the child’s welfare which is simply unscientific and against nature. It also violates the spirit of the Indian constitution,” Jahgirdar said.
The bill, he said, also allows the mother to claim paternal ancestral property and the children’s share of it, which can also lead to likely misappropriation by step-fathers and step-siblings.
“The government of the people seems to be more interested in women’s rights than innocent children’s rights, simply because children are not vote banks, though they represent more than 40 percent of our population,” he said.
Another member, a software engineer in Nagpur, said, “Men have no platform to lodge a complaint when they face harassment from their wives.”

Most of the time, he said, the wives extort money by lodging false dowry cases and even deny the right of a father to meet his children, even when he has the court’s consent.
“We urge society and its stakeholders to treat fathers with dignity and accept the scientific fact that children deserve their father’s natural love and care as much as their mother,” a statement from CRISP said.


https://www.nagpurtoday.in/its-freedom-friday-for-harassed-husbands-near-nagpur-independence-day-today/ 

Tables turn: Men harassed

Tables turn: Men harassed

In 2011, when Ashish (name changed) landed a high-paying government job, his parents were on cloud nine. Little did they know what the future had in store for him: Hikes and promotions being denied because of a 40-year-old divorcee. A married man, Ashish initially could not understand why his boss would often invite him home for dinner, call him to her cabin or ask how she looked?
“It was when she started abusing me in public did I realise that she was angry as I had refused her overtures. She made my life miserable after that. I was loaded with work. And when the time came for hikes and promotions, I was given a bad rating. My hard work turned to dust,” he lamented. Talking to the H R department or other authorities yielded no results. “People would laugh at me. Men being harassed at work places is unheard of. Many presume that a man would actually enjoy it. I had to quit my job when all options were closed,” he adds.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development, in order to implement the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013, which came into being in February, defined some finer details. These state that sexual harassment at a workplace may lead to termination of service of the accused, withholding of promotions and increments, and payment of reasonable compensation to the complainant. However, the Act only provides for aggrieved women, although the offense itself is gender neutral.
“The government is failing to recognise that sexual harassment is not a crime of passion, but a crime acted out to show dominance. In many cases, the aggressor may even be of the same sex,” explains Arnab Ganguly, a member of INSAAF (Indian Social Awareness and Activism Forum), an international NGO specialising in gender and social research, with branches in the United States and India. “The Act, however, does include a provision on “misuse” of the legislation, but it’s a very watered down version. The fine against people who misuse this Act is only `500 or 5 per cent of the aggressor’s salary, which doesn’t really act as a very serious deterrent to perpetrators,” informs Arnab.
The Save Indian Family Foundation along with INSAAF have tirelessly campaigned against the bill, so as to make it gender neutral. The fact that in India the definition of sexual assault incorporates men but the definition of sexual harassment refuses to consider men as victims seems preposterous, especially in the light of the research conducted by Synovate, a market research firm, across six Indian cities. The research states that in Bangalore alone, half of those who confessed to being sexually harassed at work had been harassed by women. Only 32 per cent said they were harassed by male colleagues.
“Although the new Act doesn’t provide for men as victims, most of the internal committees set up by companies to investigate sexual harassment are gender neutral. I usually sit in on many of these meetings as an external adviser and a lot of these cases have been filed by men as well. Companies now are being very open to issues faced by men at the workplace and take them very seriously,” says Kanti Joshi, an advocate who works with SASHA ( Support against Sexual Harassment), the consultancy arm of the NGO, IDEA (Integrated Developmental Education Academy) established to raise awareness and provide support services against sexual harassment.
Mohit Sharma (name changed), a senior architect who was working with a prominent design firm in the city, was fired unceremoniously because of allegations raised against him by a junior designer. “She wanted me to recommend her for a senior position when she clearly wasn’t ready. She flirted excessively and asked me to accompany her on coffee dates and when I didn’t comply she immediately complained to the HR, saying I was mistreating her and also alleged that I had made unwelcome advances towards her, when it was the other way around,” rues Mohit. His complaints simply echoed up the chain of command and were ignored in favour of the woman’s allegations, and after three months of fervent discussions back and forth, he was asked to leave the firm.
Atit Rajpara, president, Men’s Rights Association said that he gets more than 40 calls a month by men recalling horrifying incidents of sexual harassment at workplace.
Recalling a recent case, Rajpara said,” Shashi (name changed), an MNC employee was continuously harassed by his colleague, who wanted to marry him. When he stopped responding to her calls or messages, she landed at his doorstep and created a big scene.” Frustrated by this, Shashi filed a formal complaint with the HR. The woman was let off after a light warning but the harassment continued. She even blackmailed him that if he complained again, she would file a case against him for harassment. Despite repeated complaints, the woman continues to work with the company but Shashi was forced put in his papers. Rajpara added that in most cases men are mocked at when they talk about harassment. He said, “Sexual harassment should not be based on gender. It can happen to anyone, anytime. That’s why men never get justice.”
Women often misuse their rights and blame people at work places to get their way. In 2012, Shrishti Saxena used the same tactics. Being handed too much work by her boss, she decided to teach him a ‘lesson’. Instead of discussing the issue with him, she approached the HR and filed a sexual harassment complaint against him. Serious action was taken against the manager and Shrishti sighed a breath of relief.
Virag Dhulia, head of gender studies, Confidare India, a Bangalore-based research centre said that he gets more than three calls a month by men who have been harassed at work. “Gone are those days when offices were male dominated. These days a lot of women are handling top positions,” he said.
The centre has received calls on cases where women have tried to make advances towards their junior or colleague, asked them to stay back late at work,  threatened higher work burden and used lewd comments or abusive language. “The worst part is that companies don’t take these complaints seriously. The attitude is very insensitive towards men,” he said. Confidare runs a helpline, 9008302822, for those who are victims of sexual harassment.

 

 

http://newindianexpress.com/cities/bangalore/Tables-turn-Men-harassed/2013/08/14/article1732962.ece