| Cabinet Approves DV Bill |
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| Written by SIFF Admin |
| Sunday, 26 June 2005 00:00 |
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Government surrenders to Feminists and passes such a disgustingly unbalanced bill. News in Telegraph says, “Almost all the substantive suggestions of women’s groups have now been incorporated.” New Delhi, June 23: Women now have protection from domestic violence, with the cabinet today clearing a bill to end abuse at home.
The bill covers women in marriages, in live-in relationships and those living in a shared household related by “consanguinity (blood ties) or adoption”. “Even women who are sisters, widows, mothers, single women or living with the abuser are entitled to legal protection under the proposed legislation,” it says. The bill has not come a day too soon. A study on domestic violence by the World Health Organisation recently found that a woman is assaulted every five minutes in India.
This is trolling. Has WHO done a study of physical and verbal abuse of men by women? Suicide rate of men in India goes up by 50% after marriage due to emotional abuse that they under go.
Domestic violence was first recognised as a criminal offence in 1983 with the introduction of Section 498 A in the Indian Penal Code. But the section has a limited brief, dealing only with cruelty by a husband and his family towards a married woman.
Correct. But, even police and judges accept that 90% cases under section 498a are false where as it did nothing to solve the core issues of dowry demand. Old and sick elders were imprisoned without investigation under 498a when an evil adulterous daughter-in-law files a false case.
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Bill was introduced in Parliament three years ago, but women’s organisations allege that the HRD ministry under Murli Manohar Joshi left it “incredibly vague”.
They want more blood.
The bill targeted only “habitual offenders” and gave men the right to resort to violence not only to protect their own persons but also their possessions in case they were being damaged by the victim. “It was a highly objectionable bill and was sent to a parliamentary select committee headed by Arjun Singh,” says Asmita Basu of the Lawyers’ Collective which has been closely linked with the drafting.
Hope it will generate lot of employment for lawyers and bribes for police, NGOs and politicians.
Almost all the substantive suggestions of women’s groups have now been incorporated, she adds. “It is a new bill — a civil bill meant for giving women relief from a cycle of domestic violence.”
Government surrenders to feminists. Can the system which rapes 17 year olds in day time, ever give relief to women ?
The bill brings within its ambit “actual abuse or the threat of abuse that could be physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and economic”.
What the hell economic abuse mean ? Tomorrow, one can also add spiritual abuse, philosophical abuse, educational abuse and as many phrases as possible under Domestic Violence.
This kind of accusations are difficult to prove and also disprove. So, no way one can prove one’s innocence and achieve quashing of case at a high court. It also gives the woman the right to continue to reside in her matrimonial home or shared household even if she does not have property rights. “This right is secured by a residence order which is passed by a magistrate,” says Basu.
An adulterous daughter-in-law can abuse her old and sick in-laws, threaten them of false domestic violence complaint against father-in-law and as per law they can not throw her out of the house. She can bring ger paramour to the house whenever she likes and the nation state of India will stand for her rights.
Unlike section 498 A in the IPC, the domestic violence bill is a civil legislation, she points out. Civil law deals with the rights of people and the need for protection while criminal law deals with criminal offences and punishment. Activists say battered women so far had no legal protection. “The police did not bother to register a case under IPC. It gave the women no protection against violence,” says Basu. “The law so far was only interested in putting people behinds bars…. A lot of times women do not want to leave home or put their partners behinds bars. They just want the violence to stop.”
Correct. Section 498a was so badly designed that it put families, children, grand parents of men behind bars in false complaints. Once behind bars, the families used to tell women to get lost.
Besides, many of the battered women are not financially independent and do not have the option of living separately. If men and women are equal(according to feminism), then why women are not taking responsibility to be financially independent ?
The focus of the new law is on protection. It empowers a magistrate to stop the offender from “aiding or committing” violence at the workplace of the woman or any place she frequents and to bar him from communicating with the woman, taking away her assets or intimidating her family and those assisting her against the violence. The magistrate will appoint protection officers to ensure the safety of the woman. This simply means the man, his parents, sisters and grand parents must leave their own house and stay in street. Because, they can not come to place where she stays or frequents and she stays in their house. So they have to leave the house, property and go to street so that she can live there with her beau.
The offender will have to pay for the woman’s medical expenses and damages.
Breach of the magistrate’s protection order is punishable with a one-year imprisonment or a fine of Rs 20,000 or both. So, if man, his sisters, old and sick parents, grandparents do not leave their own house and go to street, then they would be arrested and sent to city central jail. This is the only benefit they can get. At least living in jail is better than living in street with no roof on head.
Feminists have tasted blood and they will not just stop here. Already there have started some new demands. Soon laws on harassment of women in workplace will get framed the same way. The entire system works only for crooks and the corrupt. Innocent straight forward men, women, children, old and sick elders will only get more and more discriminated. If the government has faith in its own system, it could have made a somewhat balanced law. Only laws have achieved nothing. We learnt this well from utter failer of the law “section 498a” meant for protecting woman from cruelty and dowry harassment. Finally, mothers who beat, harass, emotionally abuse, dominate and stiffle boys since their infancy produce a potentially insecure man who is uncomfortable with feminine emotions. Threats of law and police action by his wife will not help him or her in any way. That will only escalate the situation. He needs psychological help, some spiritual healing and counselling. The best way to stop this cycle is to teach women not to vent out their anger on their infant sons in any stressful situation. |