Bollywood superstar Akshay ‘Khiladi’ Kumar has dazzled many of us with his martial arts stunts, and seven-times Grand Slam winner Leander Paes, whose quicksilver reflexes have won praise even from legendary Matina Navratilova, are both facing their opponents in Indian courts. These days, both are accused under the various provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act,2005 (DV Act). As sensational as it may sound, the only point I am writing this column using the names of well-known sons of India is to bring home the fact that it’s not only an average Joe who is feeling the brunt of these ill-crafted Gender Biased laws, but it’s also the people whom we might consider high and mighty have to face the music of Indian Courtrooms, once a lady whispers anything against men. Today, men in India are more sinned against than sinning.
DV Act was drafted with the persistent efforts of Women’s Organizations, especially Lawyer’s Collective, a women’s rights organization, brought into force on 26th October 2006. Apart from widening the amplitude of the term violence, it also provided unique, well-intentioned provisions like Protection orders, Residence Orders, Maintenance, Child custody, and compensation orders. Like most women-centric laws, this was also without any misuse clause as the women’s organizations feared that any misuse act would dilute the act and have stringent criminal punishments.
Thus, both our Khiladis are stung by the broad interpretation of the term “relationship like marriage” under the DV act. Though they may come off unscathed, the women filing these cases cannot be prosecuted under the same act, even if it is proved that their cases were false and frivolous. Successive Governments have tried to woo the women’s vote bank by providing them with various quotas and making severe, stricter laws. These are misconceptions and are bound to fail women and the entire country. Let me start with quota; what we need is the reservation of 50% seats for Women in the Legislature and Judiciary; forget quota, and they don’t even have a committee to investigate sexual harassment if it occurs within these eminent functions of the country, which is mandatory as per the new Prevention of Sexual Harassment law in 2013.
Regarding the severity and strictness of the punishment, readers need to understand the fundamental difference between how civil and criminal courts treat evidence. In civil remedies, the preponderance of probabilities is an excellent rule to adduce a judgment; however, for a criminal case, the evidence has to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Also, the higher the punishment, the stricter the proof of evidence against it. They fail to understand that as much as these laws are feared, the conviction rates are lowest across all criminal offences, according to NCRB data. So much so that these laws have become a laughing stock in themselves with rampant misuse across India. Now, gang wars are not fought with knives and guns but with allegations of such gender-biased laws as the molestation of rival gang members. So my dear Fems, you have been fooled all these years, and it’s time to wake up before a lady moves to a Police Station to file a rape report and is sent to a Mahila Thana to get counselling!
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