Press Release - Hyderabad

Press Release

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH – INDIA - 2009

October is "Domestic Violence Awareness Month". India is observing “Domestic Violence Awareness Month" for the first time this year to make it an International event for all men’s rights and fathers’ rights groups across the world.

Four organizations in Hyderabad viz. Save Indian Family Foundation, All India Forgotten Women, Rishtey and Children’s Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting, are launching this campaign on 2 October because it is the International Day of Non-Violence, an occasion meant for disseminating the message of non-violence through education and public awareness.

Beginning today, our month-long campaign will focus on educating the Indian public about how the problem of domestic violence has, for decades, been misrepresented, how domestic violence has been commercialized, and how Indian laws claiming to prevent domestic violence are actually promoting domestic violence and human rights abuses against men, women and children. We will also urge lawmakers and the Government to make appropriate reforms in laws and policies and make gender neutral provisions to end domestic violence against men, women and children.

The truth about domestic violence

Unbiased research on domestic violence the world over shows that:

1) Domestic Violence is not a gender issue.
2) Men and children are victims too.
3) Women are just as likely as men to commit domestic violence.
4) Women initiate domestic violence just as frequently as men do.
5) Men and children are less likely to report the incident when they are abused by their wives/girlfriends and mothers respectively.
6) Women’s organizations spread myths about domestic violence (e.g. Men are always the aggressors and women are always the victims).
7) Media coverage is often biased (e.g. A young married woman committing suicide is automatically reported as dowry death, and a young married man committing suicide is attributed to financial/family problems or mysterious reasons).
8) Politicians and bureaucrats find no incentive in addressing domestic violence by women against men, children and fellow women.

Indian laws against domestic violence

Indian laws against domestic violence are irrational and discriminatory, and blatantly violate provisions of the Indian Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.


• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that “everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law.”

But Indian laws against domestic violence presume that the accused is guilty until proven innocent and violate universal principles of fair trial.

• Article 21 of the Indian Constitution states that "no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law".

But every year, over 1 lakh innocent persons (one innocent person every 5 minutes) are arrested under IPC Section 498A, including 4,000 innocent senior citizens (one innocent elderly person every 2.5 hours) and 350 children (one child per day) without evidence or investigation.

• The Universal Declaration of Human rights states that “all are equal before the law, and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law". Article 14 of the Indian Constitution declares that “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.”

But Indian laws against domestic violence blatantly deny protection to men against any form of domestic abuse, and every year, over 56,000 married men commit suicide due to verbal, emotional, economic and physical abuse and legal harassment.

• Indian laws against domestic violence are touted as tools for women's protection and empowerment.
But in the last four years alone, over 1,23,497 women have been arrested under IPC Section 498A alone, without evidence or investigation, not for committing any crime under law, but only because they were related to a man.

The Domestic Violence Industry

In India, domestic violence against wives is addressed by close to 15 laws (civil and criminal) including the infamous IPC Section 498A and Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA). However, there are no laws to protect husbands, children and other family members of the husband from domestic violence by wives. The credit goes to the Domestic Violence Industry and its stakeholders (women’s organizations, law enforcement machinery, legal fraternity, politicians and bureaucrats) whose survival depends on inciting and fueling a gender war, spreading myths and false statistics about domestic violence, encouraging false allegations, breaking families, and siphoning funds in the name of women’s empowerment from National and International funding agencies.

If the problem of domestic violence is solved, would not the booming Domestic Violence Industry, which is immune to all vagaries of the economy, suddenly go bankrupt? It is no wonder that as more and more draconian and inhuman laws are passed under the guise of protection of women, we keep hearing that domestic violence against women is increasing, instead of decreasing.

Consequently, Indian taxpayers have spent lakhs to implement draconian laws and policies in the country. And the verdict is clear – these laws and policies:

 Trample on Constitutional Protections and Human Rights.
 Hurt men, women and children.
 Divert limited funds away from the real victims.

Domestic Violence Awareness Month activities

Save Indian Family Foundation, All India Forgotten Women, Rishtey and Children’s Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting are organizing a campaign in Hyderabad (1) to spread awareness on “The Truth About Domestic Violence and Indian Domestic Violence Laws”, and (2) to urge lawmakers and the Government to reform the present discriminatory laws, and make gender-neutral provisions for the benefit of men, women, children, families and the society.

Our month-long campaign in Hyderabad includes the following activities:

October 2 - Press Conference to mark the beginning of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

October 11 - Launch of All India Men’s Welfare Association (AIMWA) for protection of men and boys against gender discrimination, domestic violence, sexual harassment and other forms of abuse.

October 18 - Cultural program to spread awareness regarding the truth about domestic violence, and launch of Andhra Pradesh Mothers-in-law Protection Association (APMPA) for protection of mothers-in-law against discrimination, domestic violence, legal harassment and other forms of abuse.

October 25 – National Rally in Bangalore marking the third anniversary of the inhuman, ill-conceived Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA) as BLACK DAY.

We will also be doing a massive flier campaign across the city throughout the month.

Similar activities will be conducted in other cities across the country like Bangalore, Lucknow, Chattisgarh, Nagpur and Delhi.

We request members of the print and electronic media to attend our events in large numbers and take part in the Domestic Violence Awareness campaign by providing extensive coverage for our events.

Press Invite - Hyderabad

PRESS CONFERENCE

To mark the beginning of
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH

On 2 October 2009 2:00 p.m. at Basheerbagh Press Club

 Indian laws against domestic violence presume that the accused is guilty until proven innocent and violate universal principles of fair trial.

 Every year, over 1 lakh innocent persons (one innocent person every 5 minutes) are arrested under IPC Section 498A including 4,000 innocent senior citizens (one innocent elderly person every 2.5 hours) and 350 children (one child per day) without evidence or investigation.

 Indian laws against domestic violence blatantly deny protection to men against any form of domestic abuse, and every year, over 56,000 married men commit suicide due to verbal, emotional, economic and physical abuse and legal harassment.

 In the last four years alone, over 1,23,497 women have been arrested under IPC Section 498A alone, without evidence or investigation, not for committing any crime under law, but only because they were related to a man.

• Have we gone too far with our “get-tough-on-crime” approach to curbing domestic violence?
• Have we become irrational in our approach to women's empowerment and women's rights?
• Are fundamental Constitutional rights being set aside?
• Are we now supporting violation of human rights of innocent men, women and children?

In order to address these questions, and to spread awareness about “The Truth About Domestic Violence and Indian Laws Against Domestic Violence”, we are conducting a MONTH LONG CAMPAIGN in October, in observation of DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH.

All members of the print and electronic media are requested to lend their valuable support to our campaign by attending our Press Conference marking the beginning of this campaign on 2 October 2009, 2:00 p.m. at Basheerbagh Press Club.

Organizations in Hyderabad observing Domestic Violence Awareness Month:

Save Indian Family Foundation, All India Forgotten Women, Rishtey, Children’s Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting

Other organizations across India observing Domestic Violence Awareness Month:

Save Family Foundation, Bhavya Foundation, Gender Human Rights Society, Protect Indian Family Foundation, Pati Pariwaar Kalyaan Samiti, Save Indian Family Chattisgarh

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For more info: 9704683163, 9866173468, 9573605415, http://dvawareness-india.blogspot.com

Violence against Men – the Untold Truth

- Virag Dhulia

In continuation with my article, “Violence against Women – A perception or a Reality” this article covers the topic of Violence against Men extensively as we head into October – The Domestic Violence Awareness Month. As explained in the prequel, there are principally four categories of violence, viz.

1. Female to Male Violence.
2. Female to Female Violence
3. Male to Male Violence
4. Male to Female Violence.

As already explained in the prequel, the society refuses to accept Female to Male violence and considers Male to Male violence as entertainment. And there lies the crux of this article. Because of over-hyped and often unnecessary feminist propaganda about Domestic Violence one always thinks about Violence against Women (VAW) as the only form of prevalent violence; however, that is not the topic of this article.

We can leave that duty safely to the 3300 odd NGOs working for women, the various state and national Commissions for Women, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development and the 1200 crores of annual budgets allocated to them to create awareness about women victims in the age range of 15 – 49 before their menopause and the 15 laws to protect them.

Here we will talk about the Violence that men face. First of all it is neither funny nor entertaining about the fact that men are victims of Domestic Violence because only the Wearer knows where the shoe pinches. Because the society treats it either to be funny or entertaining for male victims of domestic violence it becomes double jeopardy for them.

First, in spite of being victims they are projected as false aggressors and made to undergo cruel and unusual legal procedures merely because some woman is shouting. It would be nice to have a cursory glance at “What a DV Arrest looks like?” How here the man is tased by the police officer merely because he has been accused and does not leave him unless he admits to false charges. Numerous such cases have come up where innocent men have been tortured based on assumptions whereas in reality it was found later that the woman was the real abuser and culprit.

Who is the more abusive gender here? And who get tagged as one? Because we are always comfortable viewing women as victims and men as aggressors going by our definition of physical prowess as the parameter to benchmark Domestic Violence, we allow men to get victimized and leave them unaddressed as well. However, as explained in the prequel, it’s not the physical strength but emotional strength that defines real violence, instigates it and makes it culminate in physical violence at times.

Psychologically it’s a well known fact that women are much stronger than men emotionally because the society takes great care of a woman’s emotional needs whereas castrates men emotionally from the age of 6 and thus it is very easy for a woman to abuse a man emotionally and instigate violence. But we have a norm of letting the instigators go scot free because they are ‘victims’ whereas punishing the reactor because they are ‘aggressors’.

The alarmingly high level to which men dread emotional violence is visible from this joke – Disadvantage of marriage – Take example of Columbus. However, as the society refuses to accept this as an abuse, it is left unaddressed as well and its victims – the men are left high and dry.

This is clear discrimination against men and unacceptable. Back home, the suicide figures should tell the story very clearly. Every year, almost double the numbers of men than women are committing suicides and their rate is increasing by 6 times every year. Various men’s rights organizations under the aegis of the Save Indian Family movement have been creating awareness of the same since the last 5 years. And forget others, even those men for whom the groups are fighting find it funny.

Old alpha male judges in high courts and supreme court find it heroic to pass insensitive remarks against a man like Justice Markenday Katju of the supreme court denied divorce to man after 17 years of arduous legal struggle saying that, “Bow down before your wives, if she says look this side, look this side. If she says look that side, look that side. Even if she sounds insensible, listen to her.”

Justice R V More of Bombay High Court is anyways on a high these days. Some of his remarkable statements made in recent judgments,

“Wife calling husband names like paagal (mad), buddhoo (idiot), gadha (donkey), is not cruelty”, whereas the same is an offense in the Domestic Violence Act wherein a wife can grab a man’s hard earned money and property legally by only making allegations (whether true or false) that he name-called me. On the other hand, for a man even a civil relief like divorce to start his life afresh is not available. Is this not Violence against Men?

“A quarrelling wife is not cruel”, was another masterpiece delivered by Mr. R V More from Bombay High Court some days back. And it took him 14 years to decide that! Is this not Violence against Men?

He could have told the man in the beginning itself, so that he would have gone and committed suicide.

Judges’ thoughts are not independent, they delve in the same society in which we live and develop their thought process from the same society. This is not a one off case. It’s just that it’s reported in the media.

Above incidences clearly show the apathy that exists towards men. This is unacceptable. Unless the society acknowledges that violence against men is real, and addresses it, it has no rights to pass sermons to them the way nowadays judges are passing to men. Men are committing suicides and the society is laughing! The same society which expects men to undertake all responsibilities, risky and laborious jobs, don the role of a Protector and a Provider refuses to address their problems!

Why should men continue to be in the role of a Protector when the Protector himself is left unprotected?

Why should men continue to be in the role of a Provider when their own basic rights are not provided to them?

Everyone is uncomfortable when violence against men is talked of, because, heart-in-heart everyone knows that in reality it’s the men who are the abused lot and still left unattended to and left to fend for themselves. Just because a few disgruntled radical gender obsessed feminists have created havoc, no one really has the guts and spirits to shut their mouth, close their shops and stop all this nonsense drama going on in the name of Women Empowerment clearly tells us how truths are untold and perceptions are sold as realities.

This October, men’ rights groups will be creating month long awareness about the Domestic Violence that men face and how the current laws are completely inadequate in addressing them.

If anybody wishes to participate in the same, may do so by forwarding the below blog address to 5 of your friends.

http://dvawareness-india.blogspot.com/

Let us all participate in unfolding the untold truth of Violence against Men.

- The author, Virag Dhulia, is an activist and coordinator of Save Indian Family Foundation in Southern India, and has contributed immensely to the men's rights and fathers' rights movement in India.

DV Awareness Month Activities in India

HYDERABAD

October 2 (M.K. Gandhi's birthday and International Day of Non-Violence) - Press Conference to mark the beginning of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

October 11 - Launch of NGO for protection of men from domestic violence.

October 18 - Cultural program to spread awareness regarding the truth about domestic violence. Launch of NGO for protection of mothers-in-law.

October 25 - BLACK DAY - Hyderabad team in Bangalore to attend national rally.

ALL MONTH - Flier campaign across the city.

LUCKNOW

29 SEPTEMBER - 12pm to 5 pm

Poster Display regarding The Truth About Domestic Violence and Indian Domestic Violence Laws at Darushafa Hall opposite Vidhan Sabha (Legislature) - Lucknow.

A power point presentation.

Open forum for media and public.

Q&A session.

4pm - Press Release and announcement of "hath milao campaign".

If you want to Stop Misuse of Domestic Violence Laws, Shake Hand With Us!

5 pm - Road Show

Every Sunday during the month - road shows in a different part of the city.

ALL MONTH - Sticker campaign and display of posters at every major location in the city.

Violence against Women – A Perception or Reality?

- Virag Dhulia

“Violence Against Women (VAW)” referred to as VAW herein is a very commonly heard and most unchallenged social meme. So high is its acceptance in the society that we have 15 laws to protect women. The Government also spends Rs. 1200 crores annually to stop the violence. Most of the laws framed to prevent VAW are based on oral evidence of women. Which means only allegations are enough to punish the man – and ends of justice would be met?

There are some primary reasons for this:

1. Over sensitization of VAW in the media.
2. A belief that no woman will lie unless severely abused.
3. The fact that men are, in general, physically stronger than women.

But the foremost fact that VAW is accepted by the society is because society wants to accept VAW. And when the society accepts VAW, it also accepts “Violence from Men” referred to as VFM henceforth.

However, a quick peek into history shows us that it is the men who have donned the role of the PROTECTOR, the UNPAID BODYGUARD, the KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR, and also have been expected to do so. Whenever there has been an external threat, it is the men who are supposed to be violent and save the community. And because men are expected to be violent, they are emotionally castrated since the age of 6, so that when they go out and fight they are not perplexed, flummoxed and perturbed by uncalled for emotional disturbances and weakened in their fights.

And the same men are accused of violence at homes and of domestic violence when they are unable to handle the emotional turmoil within the homes and react violently. VFM is expected from men when there is an external attack but condemned when the man does it to vent out his frustration at his inability to fight his emotional turmoil. This is unacceptable. Either the society stops expecting VFM for external attacks or accepts VFM as a gender trait of men. It cannot be selective that on one hand men are expected to risk their lives if there is an external attack and the same men are castrated when they do it inside homes or are presumed to be doing it inside homes.

In fact, because men are expected to violent outside home, it is easy for the society to accept that they are violent inside homes as well. However, perceptions are realties seldom. Had men been really that violent inside homes then the suicides by women would have been way higher than men in all age groups and all social strata – because by society’s logic a violent man outside home is also violent inside home. Actual and factual data is exactly opposite – suicides by men are way-way higher than women in all age groups and all social strata and across all social statuses.

Counter arguments to that can be,

1. It’s a man’s world.
2. More men are born than women.

The first argument has been reasonably neutralized at The Alpha Male Dominated Society. While for the second argument, suffice it to mention that suicide rates of men are increasing 6 times the rate they are born. As per latest census figures available population growth is 1.1% whereas suicide rate for men grows at 6.35%.

Data clearly mentions the rampant presence of “Violence against Men (VAM)” herein referred to as VAM. And the deepest concentration of suicides for men is in the married/separated social status which shows that “Violence from Women (VFW)” is rampant.

That means typically we have 4 categories of violence in the society:-
1. Female to Male Violence.
2. Female to Female Violence
3. Male to Male Violence
4. Male to Female Violence.

Currently only the fourth category of violence is considered addressable by the society and we have laws only for that category. However, the other three categories of violence are not even accepted by the society as forms of violence, let alone addressing it.

The very expectation of VFM because of their role of the PROTECTOR, the UNPAID BODYGUARD, the KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR, etc. invalidates the first three categories. Primarily due to expectation of VFM it is prima facie rejected by the society that females can be violent – a social meme which violent females take advantage of and rampantly do violence and yet go scot free. And again, due to expectation of VFM, male to male violence is accepted as social norm.

Even it is shown in the movies with seamless ease. It is not uncommon to see the hero and villain fighting for the heroine in the movie and out to kill each other and the worst paradox is that it is a source of entertainment for the society. One man killing another man for the woman is a source of entertainment for the society!!!

Due to undue subjugation of the first three forms of violence, the fourth form got extravagantly splurged hype whereas the first three forms suffocated in austerity. And in reality of VAW being hyped into extravagant proportions given the fact that women in India have been actually over-pampered and over-protected, it remains to be questioned how justified is the society in over-concentrating on only one form of violence and ignoring the other three and worst citing the first two forms as exceptions and the third one as accepted social behavior.

It is extremely hard to believe that men – who are expected to be violent to protect the females can be violent to them especially in the circumstances that it is an accepted fact that men are physically stronger than women and VFM to perpetrate VAW can be easily accepted and addressed to by the society.

Also, the parameters used to benchmark violence are incomplete when we define violence. Physical strength is the only parameter taken into account and that is why only VAW is addressed. First two categories get disqualified because of this reason only and the third category is justified due to the same reason – quintessentially leaving its victims as not only victims of violence but also victims of social injustice, a tragedy of double jeopardy for them.

However, sociologists and psychologists have hitherto not given prominence to a major catalyst of violence and that’s the emotional strength. As already explained that because of expectation of VFM due to their PROTECTOR, UNPAID BODYGUARD and KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR role, men are emotionally castrated from the age of 6 and this is also an accepted social behavior due to centuries old hardwiring.

This emotional castration leaves men highly incapable of dealing with emotional stresses and turmoil coupled with social discouragement of men over expressing themselves works as the dealing blow to men’s emotional heath. And this emotional inability of men leads to absence of communication channel for men – a vicious circle at play. Also, it is a psychological fact that women are emotionally smarter than men.

However, a lesser known psychological fact is that in violence, physical aggression is never the antecedent; rather it’s the emotional aggression that’s the antecedent which means it’s the emotional aggression that instigates violence and culminates with physical aggression. Quintessentially it boils down to the requirement of punishing the instigator first rather than the reactor. It boils down to punishing the emotionally violent and aggressive females who instigate violence rather than the physically aggressive and violent males who react to emotional instigations. But does that happen in reality? It does not happen. The instigator is compensated and the reactor is ostracized.

I recall an incident wherein a 10 year old male child is told by his mother to escort an able bodied 30 year old friend of hers across the street – which means the 10 year old male has to PROTECT an able bodied and well maintained 30 year old female and is also expected to be confronting dangers and be violent if needed and the same male when he grows up, he is condemned for being violent. Then why was violence expected out of him when he was a small and immature kid and his psyche was developing and now when he is grown up, his violence is not accepted. This is not acceptable. Either stop expecting violence from males or accept it.

A male who is lauded for being violent to protect his sister is condemned for being violent against his wife when his wife abuses his family and this is called as Domestic Violence by the fantastic laws created to protect women from VFM which is very much expected by the society.

And in wake of the above discussion it definitely remains a point of debate whether Violence against Women is a Perception or a Reality? Frankly speaking, in my entire life till now I have not seen a single instance of violence against a woman (only read about it), but have seen innumerable instances of violence against men.

• Is it time we redefine our notions of gender based violence?
• Is it time we revisit our notions of the violent gender?
• Is it time we stop expecting males to be violent, put it other way round we stop expecting males to don the role of a protector?
• Is it time we recognize and address all forms of violence rather than concentrating on the easily perceptible form?
• Is it time we start punishing the instigator rather than the reactor?

- The author, Virag Dhulia, is an activist and coordinator of Save Indian Family Foundation in Southern India, and has contributed immensely to the men's rights and fathers' rights movement in India.

Restore Civil Rights to Domestic Violence Laws!

• Have we gone too far with our “get-tough-on-crime” approach to curbing domestic violence?
• Have we become irrational in our approach to women's empowerment and women's rights?
• Are fundamental Constitutional rights being set aside?
• Are we now supporting violation of human rights of innocent men, women and children?

Guilty until Proven Innocent?

Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that “everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law.”

But...

Indian laws against domestic violence presume that the accused is guilty until proven innocent and violate universal principles of fair trial.

Mandatory Arrest?

Article 21 of the Indian Constitution states that "no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law".

But...

every year, over 1 lakh innocent persons (one innocent person every 5 minutes) are arrested under IPC Section 498A including 4,000 innocent senior citizens (one innocent elderly person every 2.5 hours) and 350 children (one child per day) without evidence or investigation.

Men do not need protection?

Universal Declaration of Human rights states that “all are equal before the law, and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law".

Article 14 of the Indian Constitution declares that “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.”

But...

Indian laws against domestic violence blatantly deny protection to men against any form of domestic abuse, and every year, over 56,000 married men commit suicide due to verbal, emotional, economic and physical abuse and legal harassment.

Mothers and sisters of husband not women?

Indian laws against domestic violence are touted as tools for women's protection and empowerment.

But...

in the last four years alone, over 1,23,497 women have been arrested under IPC Section 498A alone, without evidence or investigation, not for committing any crime under law, but only because they were related to a man.

The verdict is in…

Indian taxpayers have spent lakhs to implement draconian policies around the country. And the verdict is clear – these policies:

* Trample on Constitutional protections and human rights
* Hurt men, women and children
* Divert limited funds away from the real victims

It’s time to restore civil liberties, respect for victims, and common sense to our nation’s domestic violence laws.

Organizations across India observing Domestic Violence Awareness Month:

• Save Indian Family Foundation
• Save Family Foundation
• All India Forgotten Women
• Rishtey
• Bhavya Foundation
  
• Gender Human Rights Society
• Protect Indian Family Foundation
  
• Children's Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting
• Pati Pariwaar Kalyaan Samiti
• Save Indian Family Chattisgarh