Men are being Harresed , says women pannel : Times of India front Page News

Minati Singha | TNN

Bhubaneswar: It was a law enacted to protect women from becoming victims of dowry greed and to punish those who tortured and even killed brides for dowry. But it seems that some empowerment has gone awry and increasingly men are getting the wrong end of the anti-dowry law.

    There are dozens of cases of husbands and in-laws getting thrown into the slammer on the basis of mere accusations of torture for dowry and a complaint under Section 498A of the IPC, according to Orissa’s State Commission for Women. ‘‘This is only the tip of the iceberg. The number of such atrocities against men by women is rising in Orissa. Since May 2007, the Commission has registered 38 such cases,’’ chairperson Namita Panda said.

Times View

    Many have argued that our stringent dowry laws are often abused by unscrupulous women. Now that the chairperson of a state commission for women has echoed the same sentiment, the argument gains credibility. The relevant section — 498A of IPC — leads to the immediate arrest of the accused on the presumption of their guilt. Such drastic provisions were provoked by frequent ‘dowry deaths’. We feel there must be a check on the abuse of the law. One such check could be a provision that in cases where a complaint is proved false beyond doubt, the accuser must face a jail term. That should act as a deterrent to the abuse of 498A. Men at the receiving end of anti-dowry law in Orissa

Bhubaneswar: According to Orissa’s State Commission for Women, dozens of cases of husbands and in-laws getting punished on the basis of mere accusations of torture for dowry and a complaint under Section 498A of the IPC have come to light in the state.

    ‘‘Many women are using 498A of the IPC (anti-dowry law) to terrorise their husbands and his families. A large number of cases filed under the dowry laws are fake. It’s a cruel and wicked design to blackmail husbands and in-laws,’’ chairperson of State Commission for Women Namita Panda said.

    Take the case of Srikant Sahu, a 35-year-old software engineer. He and his elderly parents spent about a month in jail after his wife accused him and her in-laws of torture for dowry. As is the won’t with cops dealing with cases filed under Section 498A of the IPC, the accused were arrested without investigation and without a chance to defend themselves.

    Later, investigations revealed that it was all a hoax. Sahu’s wife had chosen the anti-dowry law to settle a minor score with her husband and in-laws. Sahu was exonerated by a court. But by that time he had lost his job and his family all its social standing and reputation. There was no penalty imposed on the complainant.

    In another case, Goura Kishore Tripathy, an Infosys executive based in Bhubaneswar, pre-empted similar fate by knocking on the doors of the State Commission for Women against his wife for ‘‘torturing him and his parents, both mentally and physically’’.

    Tripathy said his wife, who had left him more than a year ago, was not willing to return. ‘‘Our two-yearold daughter is suffering as a result,’’ he pleaded before the commission.

    The list of such cases, according to the commission is long. Abdul Hakim of Bhubaneswar complained that his wife was torturing him by denying him sex. That, he complained to the commission, was causing him extreme trauma and humiliation.

    The SCW, Panda said, started getting such complaints in 2002. And by 2002-2005, the number rose to 559. ‘‘Of these, 388 have been resolved, and the rest are being fought. After that, we did not hear something like this for some time, but from May 2007, we have got 38 fresh cases,’’ she told TOI.

    Social activists are not quite ready to believe that men are victims of domestic violence. ‘‘In our social set-up, a woman cannot really torture a man. There are always exceptions, but it is wrong to say that torture of men by women is rising,’’ said women’s activist Anuradha Mohanty.

    Panda disagrees: ‘‘In the past couple of years, there has been a perceptible increase in the number of such men — bullied and blackmailed, tormented and terrorised. It is true that we have a whole lot of wicked women who misuse their legal weapon.’’ And here’s the last word from her: ‘‘Contrary to popular belief, torture of men does not take place in urban areas only. It is rampant in villages also.’’

CASE FILE

Total cases of women torturing men received by State Commission for Women since 2002 — 567

Conflicts resolved so far — 404

Top five districts on atrocities against men: - Khurda- 116 - Cuttack-74 - Bhadrak-43 - Jajpur-42 - Puri-37

Agree		69%
Disagree		27%
Can’t say		4%