Desicritics Author: Sumanth

Outrageous Claim in The Lancet: 1,63,000 Indians die in Fire Accidents Yearly

Sumanth — Fri, 6 Mar 2009 13:26:52 EST

It hurts to see publication of false statistics and outrageous claims by ill-educated Indians and in Western media.

The recent story on 2nd March, is related to a claim in the BBC, sensationalizing a study published in the Lancet by three feminists that they estimate 1,63,000 fire accident deaths in India every single year. (PDF) They also claim that the statistics from Indian police have grossly under reported regarding these incidents.

Soon, they jump into sweeping generalizations, interpretations and call for policy change to prevent these fire accidents. Within 24 hours, this story is carried out by BBC, Time and followed up by some bloggers doing irreparable damage even before someone has a copy of that research paper.

We have been protesting with the BBC and other Western media channels since the news reports and are contemplating legal action.

The Time magazine article says,

If the study's estimates are correct, more than twelve women die in fires every hour in India.

I, myself, am an author of papers published in IEEE, and know very well how research is carried out and how estimates can be churned out. I will dissect the research by feminists later. However, I can give a hard punch to the so called estimates on fire accidents in India right now.

The National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB) publishes that there are about 20,000 fire accident deaths in 2007. The study published in the Lancet, reported in the BBC, claims (or ESTIMATES) that there are 1,63,000 fire accident deaths in one single year.

So, the F**king ESTIMATES published are 8 times more than the Police (NCRB) records.

If police records have 8 times under reported these fire accidents, then they would have also under reported accidents like drownings, rural road accidents, falling from buildings, poisoning etc. There is no reason why police will selectively under report.

In 2007, there were in total 3,40,000 accident deaths in India (PDF).

So, if we follow this logic of under-reporting by the police and make the corrections accordingly, then there were 2.7 million (27 lacs) accident deaths in India in 2007 for a population of 1100 million (110 crores).

That's Bullshit!!

Can an Indian believe that there is one accidental death for 400 people (men, women and children) every single year?

If this is the way the Western agencies fund and sensationalize biased research for political purposes, then how is it going to improve the difficult situations in the world?

There have been many false stories published in Western media in last couple of years including false stories of 70% Indian women facing domestic violence, 25,000 dowry deaths per year and Bangalore being bride burning capital.

It is worrying that feminists in Indian media and bloggers can start spitting fire and start another round of anti-male rhetoric calling for castration of males accused of dowry harassment.

Now, I wonder why I should not join any nationalistic outfits, when there is complete betrayal of the nation by feminists and the media is hell bent in distorting people's perceptions.

I will link to one example from the feminist rumour mill and its potential impact towards clash of civilizations of a differ kind. The rumour mills will only add to the existing clashes with even moderates getting less sympathetic to the west and the western.

Those who do not wish to see India become yet another terrorist state need to focus immediately on stopping what feminists are doing in the United Nations. Indians I am in communication with see their new domestic violence law as a "cultural invasion by western feminists."

They know it is phony, and intended to destroy marriage and Indian society by empowering foreign radicals to take over the country and dictate from a pink pedestal of feminist dictatorship. Indians are both terrified and furious. They know this invasion is predominantly coming from America."

Then, I remembered the "Talibanisation of Mangalore" and now I can understand why people can support Taliban in Swat.

CrPC Amendment Will Reduce Arrests of Innocent People

Sumanth — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:16:36 EST

The Indian Penal Code (IPC) contains more than 500 sections, which defines the different category of crimes and punishment for them, if proven in a court of law. The procedures related to implementation of the IPC sections, like the procedures related to arrests, trial, witnesses, arguments etc are covered under Code of Criminal Procedures (CrPC). The IPC sections or the criminal laws and procedures are different from civil laws, family laws and corporate laws etc. Both IPC and CrPC sections are borrowed from what the British followed more than 100 years back.

The police in India enjoys the same powers today as it enjoyed during its proximity to colonial masters. The Indian police inherits the behavioural traits like instilling fear on people as it was assigned to do during British Raj. Often we read in media about corruption, extortion, torture by police and custodial deaths. Moreover, it has been found that most jails are 40% over crowded with undertrials and innocents, who can not afford bail.

So, the Government was under pressure from Human Rights Organisations for sometime to bring in serious accountability to police actions and to initiate sustained efforts to shed the negative image of Indian police.

In recent times, it has been widely reported in the media about arrests and jailing of innocent men, women and even children under dowry prohibition act 1961 and the anti-cruelty laws section 498a of IPC. Police and lawyers were often blamed by feminists for misleading women and their parents in filing false dowry cases.

In December 2008, the Indian Parliament passed a bill to amend the section 41 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to redefine the Indian police's "power to arrest". This is a radical reform as it restrains the police from arresting people arbitrarily, if the crime under which a person is accused has a sentence of less than 7 years of imprisonment. That means, police can arrest the accused person, only if the accused does not cooperate with police in investigation. Police can also arrest a person only after taking permission from a magistrate.

Now the question is: can police detain a person for say 7 hours in police station without arresting? Yes. Police can do this for the sake of investigation and the accused can demand police to give it in writing that he was kept in police station for 7 hours. If police wants to arrest him after 7 hours, then police has to give specific reasons in writing, which necessitated the arrest under the guidelines as specified by Supreme Court. The other way for police to arrest the accused is to arrest after taking permission from a magistrate/judge.

TOI Reports a major victory for human rights groups in India as the President signed the bill on this amendment on "powers of police". The amendment is expected to bring quite some amount of accountability to police and will put an end to arbitrary arrests, detentions, torture, extortion and even custodial deaths. This is also expected to reduce the fear people have about police.

One day I told a friend,"police asking Rs.100 from an accused is called bribe and police demanding Rs.25,000 is extortion". The role of police in a country is to serve the citizens. However in India, people always prefer to keep a safe distance from police. They know Indian police can rape, abuse, frame false cases and extort under threats. In Bangalore, the anti-corruption officials often raid the houses of police inspectors and find that their networth is more than couple of crores of rupees. Many laws, which are enacted to empower the weak and oppressed, actually empower the police in stead of empowering the weak or the oppressed. Can not the weak and oppressed be given justice without empowering police or enriching lawyers?

This story highlights the fact that five low ranking police officers have a net worth of Rs.60 crores, when the anti-corruption bureau of Karnataka, the Lokayuktha raided their properties.

Justice Malimath, former Chief Justice of Karnataka and Kerala High courts, who headed the Malimath committee on judicial reforms recommended to rein in the police and bring in more accountability in the "power to arrest" of police. He knew that there are lot of poor innocent people languishing in jails without trials as they do not even have the money to apply for bails. (Complete report)

The report says:

"7.26.3 The National Police Commission in its 3rd Report, referring to the
quality of arrest by the police in India had mentioned that power of arrest was
one of the chief sources of corruption in the police. The report suggested that by
and large nearly 60% of the arrests were either unnecessary or unjustified and
that such unjustified police action accounted for 43.2% of the expenditure of the
prison department."

"7.26.8 Power of arrest is often misused. The person arrested apart from
suffering considerable inconvenience, also suffers by loss of his image in the
society. Even if ultimately he is found to be innocent that damage done to the
arrested person can not be undone. There is an erroneous impression in the
minds of the police that the first thing for him to do is to arrest the suspected
person even without making any inquiry."

It is also a fact that often poor people are picked up by police. They are extorted and sent to jail if they fail to pay up. Not to mention, whopping 75,000 cases filed under section 498a and anti-dowry laws, in which police extorts Rs.25,000 to Rs.50,000 per person with promise that they will not send their mother or sister to jail, if they pay up. So, the guy's family thinks, let the guy go to jail and at least his sister or mother do not have to go to jail, if they pay up. Sometimes, lawyers and police coerce the guy into signing a huge settlement deal right inside police station under the threat of getting him and his family jailed, if he does not comply. Of course, the police and lawyers get a hefty commission out of the settlement amount. The motto of police and lawyers is simple: make people desperate under threats, so that they will cough up.

Since last 2 years, an all party Indian parliamentary standing committees worked on Malimath committee report, discussed with experts and human rights organisations and recommended the parliament to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure(CrPC) 41, to bring more accountability to police's power to arrest people. This bill was passed in parliament in December 2008 and president of India signed it just a few days back, which makes it a law now.

As reported in May 2008, in The Hindu,

"The amendment proposes that the police officer may, instead of arresting the person concerned, issue a notice of appearance, asking him to cooperate with the police officer in the probe. No arrest will be made a non-cognisable offence except under a warrant or order of a magistrate. The reasons for arrest should be sound and recorded in writing by the police officer, the amendment proposes.

Where such a notice is issued to any person, it shall be the duty of that person to comply with the terms of the notice and arrest can be made only if the person fails to comply with the notice.

Another amendment in Section 41 proposes that every police officer while making an arrest shall "bear an accurate visible and clear identification of his name." At the time of arrest, the memorandum shall be attested by at least one witness, who is a member of the family of the person arrested or a respectable member of the locality where the arrest is made.

The police officer will also need to inform the arrested person that he has a right to have a relative or a friend named by him informed of his arrest. When any person is arrested and interrogated by the police, he shall be entitled to meet an advocate of his choice during interrogation, though not throughout interrogation. The amendment in Section 54 makes it mandatory for the police to conduct medical examination of an arrested person by a medical practitioner."

No one protested when this proposal was made and put for public debate.

However, now the protest against these amendments did not come from police officials, but from a small section of the lawyers in north India. If the power to arrest and jail people without evidence is taken away from police by bringing in more accountability, how is it harming the lawyers? Justice Malimath and his committee, which recommended these amendments was made up of reputed and highly credible lawyers only. It is certain that lawyers were disturbed at the prospect of losing huge sums of money that they used to demand from litigants, during bail applications.

With these rational amendments, it is certain that filing false dowry cases to settle scores or extort money will reduce as police can not arrest a guy or his family as long as he cooperates with police during the investigations. He and his family can be sent to jail only when police takes permission from the magistrate. This news is disturbing for lawyers, who used to make money from other people's ordeal. Moreover, even feminists acknowledge that often it is the lawyers and police, who used to misguide women and their parents is filing false dowry cases, when all she wanted was a divorce or counselling to sort out minor differences with husband or in-laws. The extortion business of lawyers and police was thriving.

It is reported that, half of all the cases in criminal courts are the dowry harassment bail pleas. If men and their families are not sent to jails, then where is the question of bail pleas, in which a family spends from Rs.50,000 to Rs.4 lacs on lawyers?

The article in TOI, planted by the pro-lawyer lobby has made their intentions self explanatory.

"The amendment empowers police to simply issue a 'notice of appearance' to the accused instead of putting him behind bars in cases under Section 498A of IPC, which has a maximum punishment of three years.

Experience has shown that, at present, in-laws and husband fall in line as soon as they realize they might be whisked away to jail by cops, and more often than not, readily undertake to take care of the victim before courts hear their anticipatory bail pleas.

However, this might now change with the sting being taken out from the provision, says advocate Shipli Jain. She explains: "Almost half of the cases in criminal courts in Delhi are related to dowry-harassment bail pleas. We often notice that a husband and his parents become very forthcoming for a settlement when they realize a court might dismiss their bail applications. The amendment makes matters very easy and convenient for them. Most dowry cases get settled at the bail stage itself, something that won't happen now."

It is to be noted that anti-cruelty (and anti-dowry) cases under section 498a can not be withdrawn as this section is non-compoundable. So, the question of a woman going back to her husband's house after filing a case of section 498a does not arise. Most women file the case of section 498s in the heat of moment being encouraged by lawyers. There are also occasions, when the relatives or parents of a woman file the case in collusion with police, while the woman wanted to join the husband.

It is interesting to see the lawyer advocating settlement of dowry cases or section 498a cases during the arrest or bail stage. Is this a law against dowry or is this a law to take revenge and extort a huge out of court settlement? The issue of settlement, alimony and maintenance come under the purview of Civil Laws (or Family Laws). The Lawyers are supposed to mentor the society and judiciary. It is unfortunate that we see lawyers openly advocating subverting the very process of law and justice all the while falsely claiming that they are for welfare of the society.

Being member of an activist group fighting against human rights violations during arrests and also campaigning for judicial reforms, we know the inside story very well. Most lawyers are out right incompetent and the litigant has to literally do all the home work and even drafting of petitions and memos if he wants to give a good fight in his case. Of course, we can not blame them as we ourselves wanted to become Engineers and Doctors, neglecting other profession. Most lawyers do not have a fixed fee structure and they accept fees only by cash so that they can evade income tax. If a person is falsely accused and is running for bail, the fees can escalate from 4 to 10 times the normal rates as the person and his family become desperate. Most lawyers do not want trial or arguments in a case as it requires effort. All lawyers want is court date after court date followed by a huge settlement. They eye for a pie of the settlement amount.

The lawyers are supposed to be mentors of the judges as every judge in a lawyer first. It is important to enforce ethical behaviour in lawyers and stop them from subverting the very process of law and natural justice as this brings the entire judiciary into disrepute.

So far as police are concerned, last Sunday a guy came to meet us at Cubbon Park and he was insulted by a police inspector with the Kannada phrase "sulemaga"(son of a prostitute) in a police station in cyber city Bangalore, as he did not give in to the coercion. Now, such behaviour is going to stop as people hold police to account for each of their actions and head to police commissioner or the home minister of the State and follow up the action taken on officials through right to information act (RTI act).

Machiavellian Revenge

Sumanth — Mon, 2 Jun 2008 00:08:05 EDT

If we take a closer look, senior men are quite powerful in India. Older Men occupy powerful positions in politics and rule places like the Parley-mint, the beau-row-crazy, the media etc. in India, that we are not even allowed to criticize. These old men know everything. They know what is good or bad for the society and the nation.

They ban the bar girls, Cheerleaders and implement dress code every where. They just refuse to give up their power and more importantly their point of view. A large percentage of them are patriarchal male chauvinists.

Unfortunately, old men in India also have another problem. They are past their prime and many of them are not attractive at all. During their heydays they went to great topless bars in Bangalore and sipped Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster while doing all the nice things with no fear of AIDS.

Those who can afford, maintained two or three mistresses on the side. Now, these men have a very real problem. The younger males are getting four times more salary compared to them even in the beginning of their career. To make the matters worse, the sex life of most old males is virtually dysfunctional. Painfully, they suppress themselves as they see the young males having beautiful babes in arms in shopping malls. They wish for an opportunity to go to Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok or Damrak in Amsterdam, but they can not just afford the trip.

They feel neglected. To suppress this depressing and suffocating experience, they have to cling to something and they have to salvage something. It perplexes them that in spite of all the positional power in their hands, they are losing out in the battle for sex. During their time, they used every opportunity to show their manhood on the "sex objects", whom they used to beat up, oppress, blackmail, abandon or harassed at workplace.

Due to a tragic twist of fate, the powerful old males ended up fighting a losing battle with the powerless young males for sex. It is the survival of the fittest now.

In that losing battle, the old improvised their strategies and methods. These old MCPs oppress women and maintain patriarchy.

Even today the older males want rape victims to marry the rapists. When feminists attack back, the old tactfully direct that attack towards the younger males so that they can kill two birds with one stone. They provoke feminists and at the same time feed younger men to "draconian demonic laws" .

The young men get tears in their eyes as they are separated from their children. They became bankrupt being forced to pay huge amounts of court settlements so that they can not dream of having sex with another young female for a decade.

The older men celebrate that they could give a blow to at least some young men in the battle for sex.

The Mars-Venus theory suddenly collapses.

Renuka Chowdhury Accused of Fudging "Dowry Deaths" Statistics

Sumanth — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:16:18 EDT

Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) spokesperson Swarup Sarkar has accused WCD Minister Renuka Chowdhury of fudging the statistics on "dowry deaths". According to Mr.Sarkar, Minister Renuka Chowdhury only talked about the reported dowry death cases and deliberately avoided mentioning the actual convictions in "dowry death trials" after false cases are dismissed in the courts.

Minister Renuka Chowdhury had referred to "registered dowry death cases" in Parliament.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/More_than_6000_dowry-related_cases_registered_yearly_Govt/articleshow/2852905.cms

"More than 6,000 dowry-related cases are registered on an average annually, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the Lok Sabha has been informed."

According to Mr.Sarkar, 65% of dowry death cases are reportedly false. Interestingly, he refers to the same National Crime Records Bureau Data that Renuka Chowdhury also referred in her statement. According to this data, the trial of 5428 cases were completed in year 2006 and only in 1830 dowry death cases, the courts convicted the accused. So, the conviction rate is 33% and Mr.Sarkar says that all other cases are false as conviction could not take place.

According to Mr.Sarkar, it is misleading to include false/acquitted cases in "Dowry Deaths statistics". The cases registered include both the real ones and the fake ones, which result in acquittal. Mr.Sarkar wants only the "convicted cases" to be used in media as actual dowry deaths. According to Mr.Sarkar, often false cases can blow up the statistics and mislead the society. "Hence to have clarity it is important to use the number of convictions (ie 1830) as the actual number of dowry deaths", he said.

One can wonder, who is telling the truth. Is Mr.Sarkar telling the truth or is Minister Renuka Chowdhury telling the truth?

It is to be noted that as per definition of dowry death, any unnatural death of married Indian woman within 7 years of marriage can be investigated as dowry death. This kind of relaxed definition results in classifications of deaths of women due to road accidents, disease, suicides or any unnatural circumstances like drowning etc, without involvement of husband or relatives as dowry deaths. This blows up the dowry deaths data and in 2006, the number of such cases registered was 7618. Firstly, it is ridiculous to consider every death of woman within 7 years of marriage as a death caused by her husband or in-laws. Now, the National Commission for Women wants to remove this 7 years limit in the definition of dowry deaths. If implemented, the death of any woman at any point of her lifetime due to any reasons even without involvement of husband or relatives can be investigated as a dowry death. That will simply blow up the dowry deaths statistics to many million deaths as even the death of a woman due to old age would get classified as a dowry death.

In the meanwhile, seeing the huge blown up false figures of dowry deaths, more and more alarmed parents will abort the "girl child" without realizing that actual dowry deaths are just 1830 in a year for a country with a population of 1.13 billion people.

One just wonders, if Minister Renuka Chowdhury is solving the problems of the society or is herself a part of the problem. Creating panic in the society with a blown up figure of dowry deaths will certainly lead to more "female foeticide" as parents start thinking that, it is better to kill the girl in womb than allowing her to get killed for dowry." According to Mr.Sarkar, the dowry death figures of 1830 are so low that there is no reason for the society or girls' parents to feel alarmed. He urged the Minister Renuka Chowdhury to stop creating panic in the society as alarmism and resultant panic can lead to more female foeticide, which she herself is gearing up to fight against.

From another perspective, if Mr.Swarup Sarkar is correct, then it is good news for Indian society. If the actual dowry deaths are only 1830 in a year, then the situation of woman in India is better than situation of women in US, where about 1200 women get murdered by husbands or relatives every year (population of the US is 25% of population of India).

One just wonders, how justified it is to constantly degrade a culture and a civilization by misrepresenting facts and statistics. If the murder of women by husbands or relatives in India is less than similar murders in US, then Indians will soon ask serious questions about the negative publicity that the nation gets worldwide. It is not surprising for one to see that some western nations take pride in degrading other cultures and civilizations just to divert attention from their own social problems of drugs addiction, teen pregnancies and shootings in high schools. Some of these countries also heavily fund biased sociological studies.

It is also surprising to see lack of questioning by Indian intellectuals for decades about these facts or statistics. One also wonders, if the 1830 dowry deaths are really dowry deaths or are they just deaths due to domestic violence and battering?

The relevant National Crime Records Bureau Data:

===============================
Detailed Statistics on dowry deaths in year 2006
===============================

Number of Cases where conviction took place: 1830 (Real Cases)

Cases that are Acquitted Or Discharged (Total): 3598 (False Cases)

Total cases disposed = 5428 (Real+False Cases)

Total cases pending in beginning of year: 29713
Total cases pending in end of year: 24183

Total cases registered in year 2006: 7618 (which include both real and false cases).

Protest Planned in Bangalore Against "Legal Terrorism" Against Men

Sumanth — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:41:02 EST

The Press Club near Cubbon Park is one of my favorite places in Bangalore. Every Saturday morning from 11am to 1:00pm, I and other "Save Indian Family Foundation"(SIFF) counselors listen to dozens of abused men in the park in front of the press club. Most of them have faced abuse, threats and even jail. We have no immediate solutions to offer to these distressed and the first thing we can do is to just listen. Sometimes, the old fathers, mothers or sisters of the men join in. We ensure that the families slowly start accepting the life the way it is and the way it is not. Acceptance is the first step towards empowering ownself from inside. Otherwise, people just beat themselves up from inside and cause more harm to their soul than any external agency or a stay in jail. We stop people from torturing themselves.

Since the last 3 years, I have often booked the Press Conference hall in the Press club for a hour to conduct press conferences related to abuse of dowry laws and jailing of innocent old people. What I often expect during these press conferences is that we get a few lines in the fifth page of a local Kannada language Newspaper. I also align the expectations of my co-activists. We work on the philosophy, "do your duty and do not look at results". After the end of the press conference, we reflect on what went well and what did not and how we can improve. Of course, we have very high rate of success with media in Bangalore. We got into front page of Times of India and many other local newspapers, when we exposed the "Whip-row" controversy(link). We also created a major impact in November, 2007 with announcement of "International Men's Day", which was covered by most newspapers and tabloids in India.

In the last three years, I often proposed organising protests in Bangalore against "legal terrorism" against men and their families under section 498a of Indian Penal Code, but these proposals are turned down by some of my wise gurus, "We do not have the necessary numbers for a protest. Any protest with less than 100 people has no meaning". Then, there are guys, who are apprehensive of participating in protest and getting caught in camera. They fear that they may get fired from their jobs in IT companies. The Techies are an analytical lot and they suffer more from their endless analysis than from any abuse by police or in-laws.

Finally, in December we got the necessary numbers to hold a protest. We estimated a maximum 200 participants from Bangalore and another 40 from other South Indian cities like Chennai and Hyderabad. I got the approval for organising the protest. The date we arrived at is the 19th of January, 2008. The location is: In front of Mahatma Gandhi Park, on MG Road near "Jewels de Paragon" building.

Once the decision for the protest is taken, the tougher part of the game begins. It is one thing to dream and it is entirely another thing to be in action. We worked to get permission from Deputy Commissioner of Police(DCP-Central) of Bangalore for the protest. We had to work with a tent house for putting a tent at the venue. The banners and posters are designed. Additionally, 3000 pamphlets were printed for circulation near the courts and public places. We worked on the protest format(link) with our Delhi team.

Accommodation has been arranged for 40 activists travelling from Hyderabad and Chennai. They will be guests in the homes of the Bangalore members. As we are a non-profit and non-funded organisation, only a small number of senior activists contributed personally for the total expenses for the tent, audio system, press conference, banners and pamphlets. The cost is supposed to be at most Rs.20,000 ($500).

The Press Club is booked for a Press Conference at 12:30pm on Friday, 18th January to invite the journalists for the protest and to circulate the Press Release for the Protest. The Bangalore press club is located adjacent to cubbon park behind the General Post Office building near Minsk Square west of Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium(Google Map). A press conference at Press Club for half an hour costs Rs.1000 and a maximum of 5 people are allowed to talk during a press conference.

Will our Protest at Bangalore stop jailing of innocent people completely? It may not, given the fact that our opponents, who support "legal terrorism" are well entrenched in media, Government and their lobby group womenpowerconnect.org gets direct sponsorship from by United Nations and USAID(link). But, the pressure is building up on our opponents and their frustration is showing up (link) as they start losing their credibility within their own government. So far as United Nations and USAID are concerned, they are not at all concerned about jailing of innocent elders or minor children under the laws they lobby to retain. They have not learnt any lessons from their experiences in Afganistan or Iraq.

I am a senior manager in a MNC software firm. I am orignally a scientifically oriented guy interested in technical research work. I never knew that someday, I will conduct press conferences and organise protests. As I stood distributing pamphlets outside Bangalore Family Court near Santhinagar Bus Terminus next to Lalbagh yesterday, a 50-year old man approached us and explained how he is abused by his wife and beaten by his 20-year old son. May be for the first time in his life, he found people who are ready to listen to him without shutting him up. Within a few minutes, he was in tears, " I do not want to live." We did not have a solution for him except giving him a listening ear.

Family Violence and Abuse - I

Sumanth — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 01:30:46 EDT

About an year back, an Indian TV Channel aired a video secretly recorded by a man, who was brutally beaten by his wife every night for a prolonged period of time. As people watched this abuse shown on TV in a restaurant, the most common response was, “Saale, Ulta kyon Nahin Marta?" (Moron, why is he not hitting back?). In India, men who do not beat abusive women are considered as “Namard” (impotent).

Everyone needs corrective action in case of deviation. While society works to correct men and their behaviour through a legal system, it shrugs off its duty to correct abusive women, and in turn expects the men to somehow do this job for the society.

When women can be engineers, doctors, scientists and astronauts, they can also be abusers, drug addicts and criminals? If a woman is abusive, the society expects that it is men’s duty to correct the abusive women in case they abuse in-laws or neglect children. For example, if a woman leaves her kid in the car and goes for shopping in US, the society (law) corrects the woman. But, in India, the society expects the men to correct the women (by abuse) for neglecting the child. This has been brought out very clearly by National Family Health Survey-III, which says 54% women and 51% men believe that it is the responsibility of men to control women with use of force.(Link)

For example, disrespect and abuse of elders of the family is nothing but “domestic violence”. Calling the mother-in-law a slut is domestic violence. But, the majority of the society expects that men correct the abusive women. So, there are no laws in India to correct any abusive women.

Had it been Britney Spears, Indian society would have shrugged off its responsibility and would have expected Kevin to mend Britney’s ways. Had it been Paris Hilton, the society would have expected her father to mend her lifestyle.

In the meanwhile, the same survey shows that only 6% of women (between ages of 15 to 49), who have completed high school, had “ever” faced abuse in their lives in the state of Karnataka compared to national average of 37.2% women facing abuse at one point or other in their life(Link). The assumption here is that the men in Karnataka, who have completed high school, do not get abused by their wives at one point or other in their lives as the survey ignored the condition of men. Running an abused husband’s helpline, I do know that men get abused for not buying a car, not providing lifestyle, coming home late, drinking a beer occasionally or for disrespecting their in-laws. One out of 20 married men in urban India gets severely abused and gets threats of false cases and threats of abuse by police every year. That is 5% of educated men facing severe domestic violence every year compared to only 6% educated women facing domestic violence once in a lifetime in Karnataka. The NFHS ignores abuse against these men even though these men do not retaliate and go against the predominant societal expectation that men must correct their wives.

According to the first ever survey on urban educated Indian men conducted by the Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) on men, who eventually wanted to separate from their wives, 25.2% faced physical violence, 22.5% faced emotional violence, 33% faced economic violence and 18% faced sexual violence(Link,Link). On top of that, 79% have faced further legal violence post their desire to put an end to abuse by walking off the marriage. Still, the society denies men any protection under existing laws. This confirms the National Family Health Survey findings about the Indian society’s attitude that, when faced with violence at home, men are expected to deal with it through physical violence instead of asking the society to allow them to move on.

According to the SIFF survey, 22% of educated men also reported that the relatives of the women as well as counselors admitted that these women were abusive and said that the men would have been happily married, if they had just controlled them with a few tight slaps.

This attitude of the society explains why there is no support for any laws to protect husbands from abusive wives in urban India. The government of India is totally reluctant to restrain abusive and aggressive women as the majority of the society is convinced that it is the job of their husbands to restrain and correct the women using brute force. The situation can change for the better for both men and women, when society makes provisions in existing laws to correct women in stead of forcing men to control and correct abusive women.

Tamil Actor Prashanth Stands Against a False Case of Section 498a

Sumanth — Wed, 4 Jul 2007 00:09:00 EDT

Noted Tamil actor Prashanth addressed a press conference organized by “Save Indian Family Foundation” on 23rd June, 2007 and urges media to make a difference for families, who face severe trauma when a false case of section 498a is filed against them.

The “Legal Terrorism” in India is extremely just. It does not discriminate its preys. Rich, poor, famous and ordinary, all face legal terrorism in India.

When the family of famous Tamil actor Prashanth (wiki) sensed the prospects of getting victimized by Indian Legal System and the dreaded Section 498a of IPC, the family turned to google search in Internet. Soon the family members felt that they are not the only ones and a survivor’s guide to 498a came to their rescue. The family got something more than legal advice. The family members got moral and emotional support.

Prashanth, Son of veteran film actor, producer and director Thiagarajan. Popularly known as "Top Star", Kathal Ilavarasan (the prince of love). He remains the hot favourite among the youngsters and is the heart throb of teeny boppers. He made his debut a decade back, in 1990, when he starred in Vaigasi Poranthachu the film fared well at the box office. Chembaruthi, directed by Selvamani, followed and that film gave a strong footing to Prashant in Tamil filmdom. Vanna Vanna Pookal by Balu Mahendra won the best regional film award at the national level and Prasanth came into reckoning thereafter. One of his well known movies in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu is “Jeans”.

SIF-Times published a portion of interview of Prashanth. Prashanth got married to Grihalaksmi on 1st September 2005. (pics, news, news). But 5 months after marriage, Grihalakshmi though pregnant moved into her parents’ home. She had a baby boy last September.In his petition Prashant has complained that he was not allowed to see his son.

Mynation reports:

Prashant filed a petition to be reunited with his wife. Grihalakshmi filed a return petition that she wants to live with her husband again. When things were about to be settled amicably, she threw an atom bomb that Prashant is a cruel man and the family was demanding dowry. Prashant, his father, mother and sister got anticipatory bail.

Now Prashant has revealed shocking news that his wife is an already married woman. He got a call on 12th saying his wife Grihalakshmi was an already married woman. With this one sentence, the line was cut. Prashant did not believe this but on making enquiries, he found that it was true. Her first husband is Narayanan Venu Prasad. His address is Bupegam St in Anna Salai. They got married on Nov 9, 1998 at VM Kalyana Mandapam in Alwarpet.

Now, the question is, are not Prashanth's sister and mother women? Why they have to run for anticipatory bails to courts and police stations and stand with criminals in courts when a complaint is filed without evidence of any of the allegations against them. What is National Commission for Women(NCW) doing for such innocent mothers and sisters? Why Prashanth, his father, mother and youger sister are considered "guilty till proven innocent"? Can we call this country a civilized nation when its parliament considers individual justice can be sacrificed for social justice? Why do we celebrate independence day when thousands of innocent elders and even minors get jailed?

Andhravilas reports, The Prashant-Grihalakshmi matter is getting more and more complex. When he threw a bombshell that Grihalakshmi was already married and cheated him by hiding this fact and marrying him, the whole matter exploded into the open. Last evening, Narayanan Venu Prasad turned up at the All Women's Police Station in Mambalam. By law, he is Grihalakshmi's first husband as he has had a registered marriage with her.Though Venu Prasad and Grihalakshmi did not have any physical relationship, they had a registered marriage and are lawfully married. To have married Prashant without getting divorce from her first husband is a crime by law and not having informed Prashant about it, is an even bigger crime.

I met Prashanth and Thyagarajan with two SIFF activists and discussed the issues for two hours and planned for Press Conference next day. The trauma faced by the family members of celebrities is in no way different from that of common people, when they face the threats of false cases and subsequent defamation in media. Fortunately, Tamil print and visual media exposed Grihalaksmi. The first husband of Grihalakshmi and Prashanth both filed for divorce. (news)

YouTube Links of Prashanth's Address to Media and news:

SIFF started its Chennai chapter just 6 months back. At present, it has about 40 members in Chennai. Prashanth requested us to spread the survivor’s guide to 498a to media and common people so that people can safeguard themselves at least to some extent and seek support.

Every year, 58,000 cases of Section 498a are filed and more than 5 lac families are threatened of false dowry cases. In year 2005, 173 boys and 166 girls below the age of 18 were jailed under Section 498a of IPC (ncrb.nic.in). Indian Supreme Court has urged the Indian Parliament to amend this law on 20th July 2005 warning that misuse of this law can lead to "Legal Terrorism". Indian Parliament Members, who claim to have people's mandate have done nothing in this regard in last 2 years.

UNICEF (India) Chief Accused of Attempted Rape

Sumanth — Sun, 1 Apr 2007 01:11:33 EDT

Update:: Ms. Pandey has left UNICEF for another organization, and not received due justice. Mr. Adorna has reportedly been assigned to another posting. The comments section on this post is worth perusing.
*********
I am outraged to find that in a city like New Delhi, crimes against women are increasing and yet a person accused of attempting to rape a 44-year old woman is not even arrested. Just a year ago, a foreign diplomat was raped in a parking lot, which led to widespread protests against atrocities on women.

UNICEF India chief Cecilio Adorna was accused by a 44-year old woman, Archana Pandey, that he sexually harassed and attempted to rape her. These are serious charges and if convicted Adorna can spend couple of years in Indian jail.

According to The Tribune,

The UNICEF India head was today accused of sexual harassment and attempted rape by a former employee of the same organisation. Additional commissioner of police (crime against women cell) Tajender Luthra said, "We have received a complaint and are examining it. In her complaint, 44-year-old Archana Pandey accused Cecilio Adorna of attempted rape."

The police has not even registered a first information report (FIR). It makes me wonder if we are living in a civilised, democratic country or in some medieval kingdom, where the victim is blamed for the violation of her body.

Under normal circumstances, the police is supposed to register a case of sexual harassment and attempted rape immediately as an FIR. Then the victim has to be counselled and provided security. The statement of a woman is enough to conclude that a crime is committed. Yet, in this case no action is initiated against the UNICEF official.

Why has UNICEF India not implemented the Supreme Court's VisakhaGuidelines to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace? Why has the United Nations not yet spelled out the actions it would initiate against Cecilio Adorna? The U.N. releases volumes on sexual harassment and rape of women in the world and claims to work to stop all these atrocities on women. Then why is it silent on this serious issue?

The biased Indian media is also completely silent as it involves UNICEF. None of the TV channels reported this serious incident. This shows that even today it is not easy for a victimised woman to avail justice and support, when the alleged perpetrator holds an influential position.

About a year ago, feminist Indira Jaisingh accused a honest sincere Justice S. N. Dhingra of sexual harassment of a female lawyer, when he started taking action against striking lawyers. But, today she is completely silent, when a victimised woman runs pillar to post to seek justice.

Even though the UNICEF was created to fund children's causes, it spends two billion dollars towards feminist issues like domestic violence and rape. It's high time the UNICEF practices what it has preached all along. Internationally in such cases, a woman's word is considered enough to assume a man guilty till he is proven innocent in a court. The recent case is that of designer Anand Jon, who was accused of rape in the U.S. Indian women have suffered for centuries. A woman must have great courage to report any sexual assault on her, as Indian society still stigmatises women who are sexually assaulted.

People must protest against UNICEF and the police who appear to be shielding this high ranking official.

Feminists in the War Against Boys

Sumanth — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 01:14:02 EDT

In August 2004, I joined a social organization called Sangyabalya in Bangalore. Within days, I not only got advice and moral support, but also I learnt about the tough battle ahead against a biased judiciary.

Most other members were software engineers, chartered accountants, businessmen and even housewives. Through Sangyabalya, I started attending the meetings and seminars where judges and other social activists attended. I also started reading the feminist literature available on the Internet.

By the end of 2004, Sangyabalya broke apart and I learnt some basic lessons of organizational dynamics. Within the next five months, NGO Asha Kiran was created in Bangalore. But, most importantly, the Internet activism started with Save Indian Family Foundation to integrate all social organizations fighting against gender hate and male bashing in India.

We grew from 60 to 5,000 in the next two years. We never felt tired in these two years. Our enthusiasm and energy started increasing and we could counsel people knowing very well that we had no solutions for their problems. With our moral support, the people found their own solutions and many improvised them further.

I just wondered why we get so much energy and passion to work for a cause. Why do we bash feminists so ruthlessly? Will we stop if the misuse of section 498a of Indian Penal Code is stopped?

In 2004, many of our members used to follow a line of thought that feminism is not the culprit and the problem is miscarriage of justice in courts and the high handedness of police. But, as we started reading feminist literature, their speeches and their claims, we realized that they are in no way different from racist fundamentalist literature.

Their propaganda of false statistics and their arm-twisting techniques convinced us that this evil monster has to be stopped at any cost. Fortunately, we learnt their behavioural patterns from Christina Hoff Sommers and Warren Farrell.

So, we clearly knew the future moves of feminists. We were anticipating their attacks on small boys in schools in India. In 1998, Christina Hoff Sommers wrote her famous book The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism is Harming Our Young Men.

They proved our worst fears. In India, the attack on the psyche of young boys was going on for quite sometime. Now, the situation has become so critical that a boy committed suicide due to alleged harassment and gender bias at Oxford School in Indira Nagar, Bangalore as women celebrated International Women's Day.

Darhan hanged himself from a ceiling fan at his residence and left a handwritten suicide note. He wrote (link):

Girls have an upper hand in the school and they are not questioned whatever be their doings. Boys are punished even for the mistakes committed by the girls. One of the girls in the class complained against me and I was punished even though I had not committed any wrong. I cannot live after losing my teacher's faith.

According the S Devaraj, brother of the victim, Darshan accidentally touched a girl sitting in the front row when he stretched his legs. MC Thomas, principal of the school refused to speak to the Press and threatened to lodge a complaint of trespassing against for entering school premises. The police refused to take action and instead registered a case of unnatural death. A reporter from a TV channel, who met me at Bangalore Press Club, told me about a powerful lobby trying to influence and force a monetary settlement.

In India, if a woman commits suicide, then her husband and in-laws are often arrested and sent to jail for six months. In this particular case, there is a suicide note written by the boy and yet no case was registered against the school, which allegedly practiced gender discrimination. The teachers who allegedly harassed Darshan are not even questioned. The entire case is dismissed as a mere exception.

Feminist literature in magazines and media often urge women to change men. So women tend to believe that they should not accept men the way they are and instead they should try to change them. Feminist theory also urges women to condition young boys. These feminists, who have no brains of their own, interpret that boys are violent troublemakers and hence they need to be punished. They start discriminating and terrorizing boys in school. Their hidden hatred towards masculinity makes them hate boys and their competitive and risk taking behaviour. These feminists not only hate men, they hate masculinity and they justify harassment of boys as a dire necessity.

Just a few months back a female schoolteacher in Mumbai paraded 4-year-old boys in their underwear in school premises and justified it as an appropriate way to discipline boys. May be these 4-year-olds do not yet know how to commit suicide. The problem is quite complex, as boys normally tend to avoid sharing such harassment at school with their parents.

It is certain that some intolerant female teachers are discriminating against boys, harassing and insulting them. This creates a grave situation in society, as the victims are the young, who do not often know how to articulate the torture they are subjected to.

In the U.S., many female schoolteachers are given long prison sentences for sexually harassing boys or indulging in sex with schoolboys. After all, this is the age of sexual liberation for women. We anticipate the same to start in India soon. In a few months, we will be telling the schools in Bangalore to condition the teachers to accept masculinity as it is and stop gender bias against boys. They will have no choice but to comply, as we will be watching them. The females who commit hate crimes may not escape from justice for long.

Despicable 'Sowry'

Sumanth — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 09:56:32 EDT

'Sowry' is the money that a bride’s parents demand from her husband during marriage or after marriage and it stands for Son-in-law’s wealth. This practice has been in India since ages, but today it has reached epidemic proportions. It evolves around people who forcefully take financial decisions for their son-in-law, so that their daughter’s life would be secure. Nowadays many parents bring up their daughters with the sole purpose of turning their daughters into meal tickets who would bring financial security to the family, by marrying some rich guys such as Software Engineers or Non-resident Indians (NRIs).

The entire process often starts during the time of marriage. The bride’s family often attempts to find the details about the existing assets of the groom’s family from the groom side of the family who attend the marriage. After all, the son-in-law through marriage becomes their family member and thereby it is their duty to preempt any financial injustice that may happen to him during a partition of assets after the death of his parents. They feel duty bound that in the coming future when his parents die they should be able to get their son-in law the lion's share in his fight with his siblings as far as properties and other assets would be concerned . Any real or imaginary injustice that may happen to their son-in-law would be nothing short of serious injustice being done to their daughter and that would be reason enough for her to assert her rights to the ancestral property and assets of her matrimonial family. And while making plans for the future they would also try to ensure that if their son-in law had any sister they would some how negate her chances of laying claim on the assets.

Of course, the son-in-law’s parents may be strong and healthy. They may not die soon after their son gets married. So, the bride’s parents often feel they have to keep all their plans in cold storage. Of course, this would be frustrating for them. So, they tell their daughter, “That family will never do justice to you or your husband. Your husband has already given so much money for building their house. If this continues, then you, your husband and children (to be born) will be on the streets. That old bitch (the son-in-law’s mother) is not ready for partition and is showing false affection for her sons.”

The result would be obvious. The guy would return home tired in the evening from work only to find his wife looking like a sour puss with simpering tears in her eyes. Unable to deal with her passive aggressive behavior especially after a long hard day the tired fellow would probably ask her impatiently her source of anguish. Naturally, the lovely wife would bear her heart about their insecure future and that of their unborn children. Since the wife in every modern home has a say on the financial matters of the house, the husband would naturally give priority to her opinion rather than that of his parents. Being a fair guy and understanding the fears of his young wife he would probably promise that he wouldn't financially support his old parents and would take time out to discuss the partition of assets with his parents.

Within a few days, his 'responsible' in-laws would probably travel to his house citing the reason that they have not seen their daughter for a long time even though they visited her just 3 weeks back. The lovely wife’s father being a domineering oldie would get disturbed on finding his son-in-law watching CNBC TV18 eagerly,

“Are you into stock markets, my son?” He asks with a concerned expression as if the guy has joined a gang of international smugglers. The guy would see the concern on the faces of his wife and mother-in-law. The mother-in-law would screw up her face like the root of a gnarled banyan tree and make her disgust silently yet blatantly known.

The lovely wife’s father would go on rumbling, “You know, there are some apartments coming up in our locality in Vijayawada. I urge you to book an apartment immediately and I will do all the coordination work. In fact, I can decide the apartment and fill up the form on your behalf and you just have to sign it and give me the cheque.”

Now the trap would be well laid and they would wait patiently for the mouse round the corner to be snapped in.

Here comes in another twist to the story-

In case the lovely wife has a marriageable younger sister; her highly responsible family may pester her husband to convince one of his cousins to get married to her sister. If the cousin refuses, then the guy is ordered to cut his relations with him. The man complies.

Within months, the ever-demanding younger sister gets engaged to an NRI. Soon, the parents of the lovely wife start considering her husband as if he is some worthless insect. Of course, the prospective NRI groom basically did B.Sc and then went to US on H1B to do Y2K painting work in late 90s with some forged experience from Hyderabad. The wife’s family cannot do a wedding at Arya Samaj Temple. After all, their groom has helped raise their social status among their friends and relatives. The lovely wife urges her husband to cough up over a One lakh rupees as a loan to my father for the marriage of her sister since it was all within the family and it was his duty to be helpful towards one's parents since parents on both sides are the same. The duty bound husband pitches in financially and may or may not gain the gratitude of the girl's family.

Money obviously wouldn't be the issue since he was rolling in it and if he could afford to give out over twenty five grand to a charitable organization then a Lakh would hardly pinch his pocket.

Despite being married to a hard working guy who helped his wife's sister to get married the wife feels a knife of jealousy twist in her bosom as she'd bid her sister adieu as she'd be flying towards US wearing a diamond necklace given to her by her spanking new NRI husband which her own husband would never be able to afford being a mere software engineer earning 40,000 rupees per month.

If the lovely wife has brothers, then she will request her husband to give some money to them very alternate month, as they may not be doing well in their business.

She would probably threaten and cajole him in turns by stating that all relationships are based on give and take. If he didn't consider her family to be his own then why would she turn the sentiment? And if all else failed, she'd probably threaten him about the goons her brothers hang out with and would be glad to teach him a few lessons and that's when it would finally dawn on him that he was nursing a viper in his bosom. He'd come to his senses and realize that the family he got married into were a parasitic lot. They saw their daughters as a means to get a cash cow like him, that he had been duped from the beginning and the money he put in his sister in law's marriage would never be returned.

He'd regret cutting relations with his parents and siblings and for once he would act like a fair man and tell his wife that if she wanted to remain married to him then her family would be barred from entering his home.

Naturally hell would break loose. The once gentle wife would give Katherine The Shrew the run for her money. She'd call the husband's mother all kinds of awful names from a hag to a whore and before he'd be able to take stock of the situation she'd make hysterical calls to her family that he was beating her up, trying to throttle her to death, that she was being mentally and physically tortured and thus the nightmare would begin with the poor husband being traumatized by all and sundry.

A case would be lodged against him in a matter of hours, the cops would be knocking at his door along with some ladies from one of the women organizations who'd be doing dharna outside his house and once out on bail, on the verge of a breakdown he would call up a Helpline which he had glanced at in the newspaper when things were still normal with regards to False Dowry cases. A counselor would come online and after hearing the entire saga would ask a single question that could just about have saved his innocent life "Did you record your wife calling your mother a Randi?"