Domestic violence against man: The notion of equality has percolated deeply into the souls of the cosmopolitan folks, especially the ones that have received western education. However, owing to the physical anatomy of gender, the concept of equality takes the shape of a superficial idea.
As a consequence, the legal and political systems have made special arrangements for protection of women from the acrimony of relationship. Significantly, the notions of equality and equal protection of law gets blurred and are attributed with feminist bias.
Domestic Violence laws biased
The mere mention of ‘domestic violence’ has become synonymous to atrocities against women. The notion raises some serious questions. Does that mean that domestic violence can be perpetuated only against women? Can’t male also be victims of domestic atrocities? The flawed idea suggests a negative bias in hypothesizing that women are incapable in comparison to their masculine counterparts.
The issue, therefore, raises great concern in the society. It illustrates the breakdown of the institution of marriage in urban ecosystem, in addition to little regards to the emotional, psychological and physical torments of men.
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Ray of hope: Delhi court indicates revolution
The agonized state of affairs of men in respect of domestic violence seems to have found a voice. Recently, a case has come to the fore where a domestic violence case has been filed at the behest of the husband against his wife. The Mahila (women’s) court in Karkardooma, Delhi, that heard the complaint has issued summons to the wife in the matter, filed under section 12 of the Domestic Violence Act 2005.
Thereafter, the wife has challenged the dictum of the lower court in the Delhi High Court. The plea taken by the wife contended that the order of the lower court amounts to breach of nomenclature of domestic law, which provides protection to only women.
According to the plea, Section 2(A) of the Domestic Violence Act defines the aggrieved person as a woman, and no provision exists for a male to initiate such proceedings. However, the stance of the lower court has challenged the dominant understanding of the subject.
It has brought to light the long standing demand to have gender neutral domestic laws and provide equal protection to males against domestic violence. A lot depends on how the Delhi High Court interprets the case, but given the upsurge in cases of domestic violence against men, the appellate court is expected to take a more progressive stance.
That is to say, it will mark the beginning of a much-needed legal battle for gender justice and can be seen as a new ray of hope for men afflicted by fractured relationships.
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Men can be victimized too!
The petition suggests that the men too are subjected to the menace of domestic violence. In this case, the complainant relied on a High Court of Karnataka judgment that domestic violence proceedings can be initiated by a man as well.
Evidently, this is not the first time that a man has accused a woman, i.e. his wife, of domestic violence. Even before this, many such cases have come to the fore, but owing to the restrictions placed by the Domestic Violence Act, males have always been treated as second class citizens.
The debate around the gender-neutral domestic laws has always subsisted under the carpet. However, the demand rekindled after a recent complaint was made by a man from Karnataka with the Prime Minister’s Office, seeking help and protection from his wife.
In the complaint, the man alleged that his wife used to ‘beat him regularly’ and also threatened to kill him. On similar lines, the social media is full of such instances where men share sob stories of domestic atrocities, but the legal mechanism has mostly turned deaf towards the misery.
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Further, thousands of research and statistical data can be availed regarding domestic violence against women. On the contrary, no such official data can be found in India that illuminates the misery of men.
The 2020 telephonic survey conducted by the Save Indian Family Foundation found that during the lockdown, there was a 36 percent increase in the instances of harassment against husbands by wives.
Furthermore, Surendra Kumar Das, an Indian Police Service officer serving as Superintendent of Police (East) in Kanpur, died in 2018 after consuming a poisonous substance. When this matter was investigated, it was found that due to domestic discord, the official resorted to suicide.
Domestic Violence laws and Future Course
It is not to say that women are not victims of domestic violence. Many women in our country must bear the brunt of the criticism, but every coin has two sides. The majority of cases of domestic violence are against the women victims, however, the number of male victims in urban and sub-urban places have witnessed an upsurge.
The uneducated and under-privileged continue to suffer at the hands of their dominant spouse. On the contrary, the educated and feminist-oriented folks are resorting to misuse of the law at the behest of western admiration and philosophy. Due to the biased orientation of the domestic laws, men are left to suffer as they are barred from the protection of domestic violence laws.
Moreover, the growing acceptance of biased leftist propaganda on western notion of abstract feminism in the Indian context is causing a sea of a difference. That is to say, the western philosophy of feminist theories is brainwashing the urban minds to move away from the institution of marriage.
Consequently, a large number of urban females are adopting the practise of misusing domestic laws to the detriment of the male fragment of society. On the contrary, the majority of vulnerable members of female society who have yet to seek legal protection fail to reach the courts.That is to say, the interpretation of domestic law needs a more gender-neutral orientation to provide equal protection of the law without any racist bias.
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