Brief Facts about Save Family Foundation (SFF) and Associate NGOs across the country.  

About the Group:  

1. The SFF group comprises the most educated, qualified and talented (intelligentsia) people in different fields like Management Gurus, IT, Telecom, Banking, Service Industry, Bureaucrats, Media Personalities, Automobile and FMCG including NRI population and these are the people who have decided to come on the ground and fight for the justice.
2. The present size of the group stands at 1,00,000 active members across the globe (active = in constant touch).
3. We have grown from 3 persons in 2005 to currently 1,00,000 members due to dedicated, consistent, committed and hardworking volunteers. The community is growing even faster.
4. The group operates more than 100 active blogs (with regular updates), 16 websites, 26 NGOs and has a strong Internet campaigning group.
5. The group is connected through a centralized SMS and mail system – to mobilize the group within minutes across the country and globe.
6. It is a diversified group with regional sentiments/leaders and yet with a common objective to promote Gender Equal Laws and Policies.

  Our Support:  

1. Potentially in Delhi and NCR, there are around 5,00,000 people who have been suffering or suffered at the hands of the biased laws in favour of the wives (in juxtaposition to women in general who too suffer being related to men as sisters or mothers) and would be willing to support to eradicate this undue bias. So the group is not anti-women, and not even anti-wives, but is striving for a fair deal to all under law, and want the laws to be evenly poised without any gender bias, particularly when the said laws in their implementation have not contributed at all to the women’s welfare in general.
2. All the group members are willing to contribute towards making the laws gender neutral and are already working for the equality in the provisions of IPC, Cr.P.C, Evidence Act, etc. (like replacing the words husband / wife with spouse and man / woman with person).
3. More than 200 volunteers for media and Internet campaign.

  Shocking Statistics: 

1. 280 children arrested in 2006 under the draconian laws.
2. As per the NCRB data, more than 80% people arrested under dowry laws cases have turned out to be innocent. (For example : in the year 2006 a total number of 137180 persons were arrested under 498A and out of those 4812 were not even chargesheet. Out of the 62746 persons who were charge sheeted - 50,895 i.e. approx 81% were found innocent after the completion of the trial and the rest are still under trial).
3. Every year 52,000 married men commit suicide in India as against 28,000 married women (source: 2005 – NCR).
4. Every year more than 1,00,000 men lose their job and become unemployed because of wrongful arrests under the dowry laws.
5. World Health Organisation report on Elder Abuse finds misuse of dowry laws by the daughters- in-law as the main reason for the elder abuse in India.
6. The Supreme Court of India has already termed the dowry law misuse as “Legal Terrorism”.
7. BBC study indicates that more than 80% women under-trials (related to husbands) lodged in Tihar jail (Delhi) are booked under dowry related laws.
8. 1,20,000 women (related to husbands) were arrested in the 4 years (2004 to 2007) under the dowry laws as against the 17,000 women only arrested by the British during the tumultuous decade (1937 to 1947). The Women’s Welfare Ministry is in fact the Wives’ Welfare Ministry.
9. More than 82% of tax collection is contributed by the Indian men but there is no Men’s Welfare Ministry. In a country like India – where we have an Animals’ Welfare Ministry – it is a complete overlook for the men.

  Our Expectations:     

1. Formation of Men’s Welfare Ministry.
2. Promotion of Gender equal laws to promote family harmony (man/woman to be replaced by person and husband/wife to be replaced by spouse).
3. 498-A IPC to be made bailable, non-cognizable and compoundable, as per the recommendations of Malimath Committee report to save the institution of marriage.
4. Punishment for misuse of the provisions of the dowry law by default in case the complaint / case if found false.
5. Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA) of 2005 should be gender neutral as it is in all developed countries.
6. Workplace harassment legal framework should be made gender neutral.
7. Duplication of legal provisions for similar benefits should be scrapped to avoid unnecessary and multiple litigations and also to stop the wastage of judicial and administrative resources. 
8. Empowerment of women through proper education to make them independent.
9. There should not be any discrimination in the matters of religion, caste and sex as well.
10. Effective measures to eliminate female foeticide and child abuse/labour.

  Potential of the issues: 

1. Presently more than 5,00,000 families (app. 25,00,000 people on all India basis) directly support the cause.
2. About 1 crore people are directly or indirectly affected by the biased legal provisions, and would be willing to support the cause.