New Delhi, As women the world over rejoice over equality and freedom on International Women’s Day, more than a 100 women from all parts of the country today protested at the National Commission for Women (NCW) office against the grossly abused IPC Section 498A.

Seeking an ‘inclusive deterrent’ in the prevalent law (Protection of Women Againt Domestic Violence Act - 498AIPC), under which more than a lakh women in the last four years have been arrested, the protestors denounced NCW’s ‘inaction’ in getting the law either repealed or amended.

Pointing that Section 498A of the IPC had done more harm to women than protecting them and their rights, the protestors who were demonstrating under the banner of NGOs ‘All India Forgotten Women’ and ‘Mothers and Sisters Initiative’, said the NCW which claimed to take care of them was doing nothing to ’save them’ from the law which was actually harassing women.

”Last year alone 63,000 women were arrested under the law and in the last four years 1.23 lakh women have been arrested,” Dr Anupama Singh, president ‘Mothers and Sisters Initiative’ told UNI.

Questioning the veracity of the law which was outdated, Dr Singh asked whether penalising innocent women under false cases brought justice to genuinely abused women? ”Every year thousands of families are broken and thousands of children rendered fatherless. Does women empowerment mean destroying family harmony and creating a fatherless society?” ”We want that at least an amendment be introduced which could be a deterrent against filing false cases,” she said. ”This would act as a balance in the law, as even the Supreme Court has accepted that Sec 498A was grossly misused.” We also want that the CrPC Amendment Act, which has been passed by Parliament, be immediately notified so that it takes the shape of law, she said, adding that the government had failed to do so under pressure of protesting lawyers.

”The lawyers don’t want it as it would affect their finances because most of their income came from bails given to the accused.” Calling the amendment as ”excellent and visionary”, Dr Singh stressed that some vested interests and the lawyers lobby was preventing the amendment from becoming a law which would prove very beneficial to the poor class of the country.

”Its never that the rich suffer, its always the poor who are burdened after being arrested under superficial charges.” Women from Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Indore among other places participated in the protest demonstration.