Court acquits two in dowry death case as complainant-cum-witness turns hostile

A local court on Tuesday acquitted two persons charged with abetment to suicide, as the complainant-cum-witness turned hostile.
Pawan, accused in the case was married to Sunita, who died after jumping from the third floor of her house in Sector 15-C on March 25 this year. Pawan allegedly harassed his wife for dowry. Sunita's brother Rajesh, who is the complainant in the case, had alleged that Pawan and his father Nand Kishore harassed his sister for money, following which a case was registered under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of Indian Penal Code against them.
According to the complainant, he got a call on March 25 around 4 pm from the accused and was informed that his sister has been injured and has been taken to PGI. Around 7 pm on the same day his brother got a call that Sunita has jumped from the third floor of her house.
Rajesh, in his initial complaint, had alleged that Pawan and Nand Kishore demanded cash and motorbike. He had also told the police that they spent around Rs 12 to 15 lakh in the marriage which took place in 2000.
According to Rajesh, Sunita, a mother of two children, was not given proper food and was not allowed to meet her children. She was also sent to her parents ancestral home after marriage for some time. He said a local panchayat at her parents home tried to resolve the issue on several occasions.
However, Rajesh later turned hostile and refused to accept that he made any statement before the police regarding the amount of money being spent on the marriage. He also denied that he made any statement about any panchayat being held to resolve the dispute.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/court-acquits-two-in-dowry-death-case-as-complainantcumwitness-turns-hostile/1167505/ 

‘Step to protect men from wives’ fake complaints not enough’

Centre's directive to states say no arrests be made without proper investigation

Taking cognisance of the increasing number of false complaints being filed under section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Central Government recently issued directives to the state governments not to make any immediate arrests but conduct thorough investigations before taking any action. However, family court lawyers and activists feel that unless women are punished for lodging false complaints, this directive would not help.

"Though the directive is welcome, unless the women are punished by law for filing false cases under Section 498A, its misuse cannot be stopped," said Mahesh Kalge, a representative of Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF), who runs a helpline for men in distress caused by domestic disputes.

Mahesh (name changed), an IT professional from Chinchwad, had to spent a week in the lock-up after his wife filed a harassment complaint with the police.

"In most cases, the investigating officer immediately arrests the husband, mother-in-law and sister-in-law, as per the statement given by the wife. However, when the allegations prove false, the investigating officer is never held at fault. It is time the judiciary take this into account," said Mahesh.

"This directive, if implemented strictly, will surely put a tab on the misuse of this section. Of the total cases filed under this section in one year, 85 per cent turn out to be bogus," said advocate Shailaja Kelkar, matrimonial counselor who practiced in the family court for 20 years. There should be a provision in the law where husbands can sue their wives for making false allegations. Women take to filing such false complaints with an eye on compensation or husband's property, Kelkar observed.

In a letter to state chief secretaries, the Ministry of Home Affairs has asked the state governments to issue directives to the police not to arrest the husband and his relatives without checking the genuineness of the anti-dowry complaint.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-step-to-protect-men-from-wives--fake-complaints-not-enough-/542632/

Centre's directive to states say no arrests be made without proper investigation
Taking cognisance of the increasing number of false complaints being filed under section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Central Government recently issued directives to the state governments not to make any immediate arrests but conduct thorough investigations before taking any action. However, family court lawyers and activists feel that unless women are punished for lodging false complaints, this directive would not help.
"Though the directive is welcome, unless the women are punished by law for filing false cases under Section 498A, its misuse cannot be stopped," said Mahesh Kalge, a representative of Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF), who runs a helpline for men in distress caused by domestic disputes.
Mahesh (name changed), an IT professional from Chinchwad, had to spent a week in the lock-up after his wife filed a harassment complaint with the police.
"In most cases, the investigating officer immediately arrests the husband, mother-in-law and sister-in-law, as per the statement given by the wife. However, when the allegations prove false, the investigating officer is never held at fault. It is time the judiciary take this into account," said Mahesh.
"This directive, if implemented strictly, will surely put a tab on the misuse of this section. Of the total cases filed under this section in one year, 85 per cent turn out to be bogus," said advocate Shailaja Kelkar, matrimonial counselor who practiced in the family court for 20 years. There should be a provision in the law where husbands can sue their wives for making false allegations. Women take to filing such false complaints with an eye on compensation or husband's property, Kelkar observed.
In a letter to state chief secretaries, the Ministry of Home Affairs has asked the state governments to issue directives to the police not to arrest the husband and his relatives without checking the genuineness of the anti-dowry complaint.
- See more at: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-step-to-protect-men-from-wives--fake-complaints-not-enough-/542632/#sthash.P8aotY7I.dpuf

Centre's directive to states say no arrests be made without proper investigation
Taking cognisance of the increasing number of false complaints being filed under section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Central Government recently issued directives to the state governments not to make any immediate arrests but conduct thorough investigations before taking any action. However, family court lawyers and activists feel that unless women are punished for lodging false complaints, this directive would not help.
"Though the directive is welcome, unless the women are punished by law for filing false cases under Section 498A, its misuse cannot be stopped," said Mahesh Kalge, a representative of Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF), who runs a helpline for men in distress caused by domestic disputes.
Mahesh (name changed), an IT professional from Chinchwad, had to spent a week in the lock-up after his wife filed a harassment complaint with the police.
"In most cases, the investigating officer immediately arrests the husband, mother-in-law and sister-in-law, as per the statement given by the wife. However, when the allegations prove false, the investigating officer is never held at fault. It is time the judiciary take this into account," said Mahesh.
"This directive, if implemented strictly, will surely put a tab on the misuse of this section. Of the total cases filed under this section in one year, 85 per cent turn out to be bogus," said advocate Shailaja Kelkar, matrimonial counselor who practiced in the family court for 20 years. There should be a provision in the law where husbands can sue their wives for making false allegations. Women take to filing such false complaints with an eye on compensation or husband's property, Kelkar observed.
In a letter to state chief secretaries, the Ministry of Home Affairs has asked the state governments to issue directives to the police not to arrest the husband and his relatives without checking the genuineness of the anti-dowry complaint.
- See more at: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-step-to-protect-men-from-wives--fake-complaints-not-enough-/542632/#sthash.P8aotY7I.dpuf

 

PIL questions immediate arrests in dowry harassment cases

JAIPUR: A division bench of the high court has asked state government to give its reply to a PIL filed by one Vinod Singhal who questioned immediate arrests in cases pertaining to Section 498A (dowry harassment) and Section 406 of IPC (criminal breach of trust) filed by aggrieved wives against husband and his relatives.
The petition alleges that 70% matrimonial disputes are being converted into criminal cases by misuse of the provisions of Sections 498A and 406 of IPC. It has been alleged that once such a false criminal case is filed against the husband and his relatives the police immediately arrest the accused resulting in vanishing of chances of reconciliation between the warring husband and wife.

The PIL raises a point that since the offences are non-bailable, some guidelines must be issued so as to see that no husband or his relatives are arrested on false complaints. The petitioner demands that instead of registering the FIR immediately, the police must first call the parties for conciliation and in case the dispute remains unresolved, then only action should be initiated against the guilty husband and his relatives.
It has also been highlighted in the petition that in the recent past the Supreme Court too had observed that the law made for protection of women is being misused and has asked the Law Commission of India to report as to whether the law can be made bailable. The division bench of Chief Justice Amitava Roy and Justice V S Siradhana directed that a copy of the PIL be supplied to the government advocate.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-07-09/jaipur/40468015_1_pil-questions-dowry-harassment-cases-division-bench

Ghaziabad: Wife kills husband over drinking habits

What will happen if Husband kills wife bcoz she has drinking habits will law take it so smoothly, Domestic violence is it happening on Men or Women?

A 48-year-old woman allegedly bludgeoned her husband to death after she had a heated argument with him at their residence in the Rampuri area of Ghaziabad.
Police said Shanta Devi told them that her husband Sriram Sharma (54), a businessman, was an alcoholic and frequently fought with her and assaulted her. Shanta has been arrested for his murder.
Police said the couple lived with their daughter, who is an MBA student in Ghaziabad. On Tuesday, Sriram came home drunk and fought with his wife over a trivial matter, police said.
"The two had been having arguments for a while. Sriram had a transport business, which wasn't doing very well. As a result, the family's finances were suffering and it's possible that Sriram had taken to drinking because of this," Ranvijay Singh, Ghaziabad Deputy Superintendent Police, said.
Police said Sriram would often assault his wife while he was in an inebriated state. After her arrest, Shanta told police that the constant abuse — both physical and mental — had driven her to the murder.
Police said when the daughter saw her parents fighting, she tried to intervene and was told by her mother to go to the next room. "Following this, Shanta hit him on the head with a hammer. Death was almost instantaneous. After killing him, she covered him with a blanket and went off to sleep in the next room," Singh said.
Police said the body was discovered by the daughter on Friday morning, after which she informed the police.
This is the second such incident in National Capital Region in the last two days. On Thursday, an elderly woman was bludgeoned to death by unknown assailants inside her Malviya Nagar residence.

 http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ghaziabad-wife-kills-husband-over-drinking-habits/1162564/?SocialMedia 

Lawyer felicitated for contribution in cause of men

ALLAHABAD: A High Court lawyer Arvind Kumar Pandey was felicitated by a section of lawyers for receiving an award at fifth National Men's Rights Conference held in Nagpur recently, for outstanding contribution in championing the cause of men in national and International arena, during a programme organized at Indian Coffee House on Saturday.

Addressing the lawyers, Arivind Kumar Pandey said, "Biased criminal laws have spoiled the lives of many men charged under the Dowry Act. The laws like Domestic Violence Act, IPC 498 a, and Maintenance Act, to name a few are heavily tilted in favour of women and have done more harm than producing good effects."

The Men's Rights National conference, held at Pench Tiger Reserve in Nagpur was attended by more than 150 men's rights activists, who represented 40,000 activists spread across India and other parts of the globe.

This year's national conference was held under the aegis of Nagpur Chapter of Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF), now being run by Rajesh Vakharia. Few prominent International Men's Rights Associations like Marital Justice from United Kingdom and INSAAF from USA besides Men's Rights activists from Germany, Singapore, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Middle East, Japan and Russia also attended the conference.

Informing about the resolutions passed at fifth Men's Rights conference Arvind Kumar Pandey, who attended the conference as a writer and blogger said, "The first resolution was aimed at formation of Men's Welfare Ministry while the next resolution aimed at reducing the number of men involved in hazardous professions and another important resolution dealt with creation of gender-neutral treatment in legal aspects. Recognition of the rights of fathers, making shared parenting necessary in wake of separation was another major demand made on the occasion. The activists were unanimous in rejecting the highly biased Marriage Law Amendment Bill, 2010, and demanded its roll back. Lastly, the need to make huge investment in areas of Men's health was deeply felt."

The felicitation ceremony at Coffee House, Allahabad, was attended by advocates including Neeraj Shukla, Sampanna Kumar Srivastava, Ashish Nigam, Satyadhar Dubey, Arvind Kushwaha, Pintu Jaiswal, Shubhranshu Pandey, Arun Prakash Srivastava, Mohit Kesarwani and few others.http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/allahabad/Lawyer-felicitated-for-contribution-in-cause-of-men/articleshow/22197623.cms 

DIVORCE BILL ANTI MEN LIVE PROGRAM IN HEAD LINES TODAY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPmfb8VGvZM

Indian men treated as Collateral Damage

Collateral Damage is what I begin to feel can best describe the situation for treatment of men in India, after watching a discussion by parliamentarians. The Indian parliament passed a bill that would amend the Hindu Marriage Law introducing new grounds of divorce under a situation described as “Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage.” Needless to say it is heavily loaded against men and is being passed on as “social justice.”
India had a hierarchical caste system, wherein the lower castes were denied certain opportunities, while the higher castes carried certain responsibilities and enjoyed liberties. In some ways, when the question of emancipation of the neglected came, it was found justifiable that sharing the limited resources by denying rights to one section and handing it over to another was social justice.
Later another form of social justice came up. This time with the baggage of a false notion of “patriarchy,” India was convinced that women have been deprived of rights and they need empowerment. Although, the definition of women remained, and even now remains only restricted to, being a wife. Any other role of woman in a household -mothers and sisters of a husband- does not evoke the same emotions due to some convoluted perception of a marital set-up by feminists and their backers.
Laws after laws are being created, which are being called pro-women, but in reality are only anti-men. When the flaws in these laws are highlighted the arguments usually end-up with mentioning of the historical disadvantage that women have had in India. Misandry like a hydra-headed monster rises in all of its forms. Somehow, it has become acceptable to unnecessarily punish the men of today to try to salvage the situation of women.
The men of my generation have begun to wonder if they are being used as fodder, so that the proponents of social justice could counter the sense of guilt in their hearts. Every politician we meet says he understands we are being discriminated against. Every person agreed that the law being framed for Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage was biased against men. Most tried to explain to us how the society in general is going through a transitional phase and ‘some’ men will suffer until equilibrium is attained. Never mind that they want to dismiss the facts about the ‘some’ men being a humungous number of 65000 married men committing suicide every year in India. The urge for the soothsayers to live in denial, makes them forget that the figure means every 7 minutes a married man commits suicide in India.
They can continue to become reason for someone’s death. But we refuse to become ‘Collateral Damage’ in their process of attaining self-satisfaction to achieve some irrational form of social justice. The Men’s rights movement in India is only getting stronger and it reflects in today’s discussion on the amendment to the marriage law in Rajya Sabha – the upper house of parliament. The discussion on this law has been another landmark for men’s rights in India, with many members from opposition regional political parties voicing the agenda of men’s rights in parliament which will go on record in the annals of history. The Law Minister had to misinform the house, at certain points to gain support, for e.g. he said the bill is gender neutral, when he knows it is not – a husband cannot oppose a petition filed by a wife, property(self-acquired before or after marriage, inherited and also inheritable) of only the husband is considered for division. The statements will be well documented in the records. History will judge that the people who brought this law were on the wrong side of justice.
The discussion has been storified here http://storify.com/antidespondent/irretrievable-breakdown-of-marriage-discussion-in
The only fear is the passage of this law, should not accelerate the numbers of suicides by men, who might feel there is no hope of help from the society. Thereby lies, the next challenge for the men’s rights activists in India, to continue reaching out to a populace of 500 million men.
 

 

http://www.avoiceformen.com/mens-rights/indian-men-treated-as-collateral-damage/ 

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/ 

wife & in law jailed for 5 years