| Battered hubbies get united to raise voice |
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| Written by Manjari Mishra |
| Sunday, 22 November 2009 18:53 |
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The 35-year-old LIC agent and president of the Samiti certainly knows best. Currently out on bail after having spent five months and 23 days in Lucknow district jail under Dowry Prohibition Act, Awasthi is a man with mission, which is "to remove the fear of ridicule and stigma from the victims so that the extent of the malaise is known to those in power." The modus operandi, he says, varies from a “thought-provoking protest march with men dressed as dulha and handcuffed hands in the heart of the city last Thursday to petitioning RTI to expose the ground reality. The data received so far, he claims has been a shocker. “In Lakhimpur Kheri alone 1,013 minor girls were put behind the bars under the draconian Act between 2000 to 2007,” he said. Then, 1,400 inmates out of the 3,000 lodged in Lucknow jail, he had personally surveyed in June 2007, were implicated in dowry related crimes — the oldest, a ninety year old man who could neither see hear or walk and had to be carried around on a charpoy. We have sought details of arrest from each district of UP and the data is awaited, he told TOI. The biggest problem before our volunteers is a calculated silence of victims, says Umesh Talwar, a member. “In lucknow, we are handling dowry harassment cases filed against 70 doctors, 4 university professors. Even an IAS officer phoned up to inquire what help could we possibly render, apart from at least two politicians from national parties. The city has an average quota of 150- 200 FIRs registered per month under the Dowry Act.
Unfortunately, none at the receiving end wants to come clean with his experiences rued this former manager of trading and development in a reputed Mumbai firm who quit after his wife filed a suit in Lucknow. There are other roadblocks as well. “Getting registered itself posed a huge problem. First reaction of concern official was ‘yeh kya mazak karne ke liye aye ho’. The man was livid thinking we were up to some prank. It took us more than three months of assiduous cajoling and convincing that the issue was important enough to merit his attention. Thankfully we succeeded,” narrated Awasthi. Berating a strong pro-women bias in administration and police, Talwar cited the case of a harassed husband in Meerut who tried to file a complaint of husband beating and was shooed away by the district police thrice till he produced a video clipping of the wife assaulting him. The Samiti is trying to enlist and honour him, he says. The demands, the duo admits, are a little far fetched - setting up of all male commission, a ministry for man welfare. On the coming women’s day the Samiti is planning a march up to the State Women Commission’s office. All of us shall don saris to signify our complete subjugation, if it makes the lot happy on the day, says Awasthi and adds, it seems like a lost battle where the so called weaker section has an upper hand. |
