Meeting with Ms. Renuka Choudhury, WCD
The meeting with WCD minister Ms. Renuka Choudhury, Ms. Kiran Chadda Secretary,
Ms Girija Vyas of NCW, Ms. Asmit of Lawyer's Collective, Gauri Choudhury, Ms. Jyotsna etc was a mixed one.
Save Family Foundation Delhi, Pariwarik Suraksha Samity of Praveen Walia, Pati Pariwar Kalyan Samity, Lucknow, Bharat Bhachao Sangathan Kolkata, GHRS, Rakshak, etc were present there.
Initially 1 and 30 min, only UNIFEM people were talking. No one of us was allowed to speak. When Sandeep tried to intervene he was threatened that he would be thrown out. Then we realized that we will not be given any chance to speak. Media was not allowed inside initially.
Then Neeraj, Niladri, Wasif, Komal, Jeetu and plenty of plenty others (about 100 people) started Naarabaji. Then the voice of the shouting reached inside. Renuka came outside to see what was happening.
All the media stared taking bytes of Naarebaji, with black bands on our hand. They started taking bytes of different persons, including ur mothers and sister.
After that, the atmosphere inside changed. Our people were allowed to speak.
Dr Anupama countered all the stats of UNIFEM with DV stats that of all over the world that DV is not gender specific. DV by women versus men are same as DV of men against women. But unfortunately as per DV act in India and all study are biased. She challenged how your all study is different which shows only men do DV in India. She also asked their study report. Further she asked Renuka what about DV of women against another women? Why the same not covered in DV act?
Renuka : No, it is already covered. Then all pupils started protesting and she was forced to referred the DV book.
Sushil Kr Sharma of Mulkraj Foundation : Madam in last 1 year I have seen a lot of change in you. Previously u used to talk only of wife's right. Today at least u r talking about family rights.
Renuka : It is a compliment. Thank u.
Sudhir and all team members from back : Election is coming !!!
Sudhir : Madam, I want only 30 secs.
Renuka and her gang happy to give only 30 secs : OK
Sudhir : Madam, u r the Women and Child Minister. And in India last 3 years, 1,20,000 mothers and sisters have been arrested under 498a without any investigations which even the barbaric British Government has not done. Are u not ashamed of it? Should I address u as wife minister only instead of women minister?
Renuka was silent. All her other gang members try to divert the issue.
Dr Mrs. Indu Subhash tried to highlight the Late Pushkar Singh case of Lucknow, which Renuka said will deal separately.
Swarup : If you would want partnership with men's group, we are ready , but I want justice for 56000 husband who has dies due to suicide.
Renuka : But what about the 7000 wife who are burnt in dowry torture.
Swarup : But more than double ladies are killed in Western Country and the same termed as dowry death, where as all other country term the same as Spouse murder. Indian men are different than western man. Further more than 10000 unmarried women also died, why you do not ask to send their parents to behind the bar?
Renuka : That is the reason I have married an Indian Man and also have two lovely daughter.
Swarup : Lekin apke koi beta neho hai. That is the reason u do not understand the pain of a mother whose son has died.
Renuka kept quite for a moment.
Renuka in a low voice : I am happy, I do no have a son
Swarup : Now Madam, choice is with u. Whether as per records a western women earns at least 4 times more than Indian women. Still more than 70% children are father less. If such things continue, Indian also witness the same. It is upto you to decide whether father less child will increase the total crime and domestic violence in society or decease it. Just think yourself and decide.
Later Renuka called the media and had a press conference.
After the press conference Renuka called all the men, and their mothers and sisters. She had an open discussion. Dr Kiran Chadda, Secretary, WCD admitted that laws are misused and her own relatives are also suffering.
She said that she is going to meet us again for detailed discussion.
Plenty of media covered us and the entire event.
(Photo Click Here)
Times of India - 'Pro-women laws being misused'
NEW DELHI: Are we being fair on the not -so-fair sex? It would appear not. Laws for protecting women like the anti-dowry legislation and the domestic violence Act were vociferously opposed by men's groups on Wednesday at a consultation initiated by the ministry for women and child development and UNIFEM.
The burden of their argument was that these laws don't follow the fundamental legal premise that a person is innocent until he is proven guilty. "In 30% of the cases that come to us, there is a rift between the woman and her in-laws where the woman forces the man to choose between the two under the threat of slapping Section 498A of the Dowry Prohibition Act on the husband and his family," said Ashish from Save Indian Family (SIF). He added that there should be a deterrent to prevent misuse of the law. Another representative Hemant from SIF said that 1.2 lakh women (women relatives of husbands) were arrested under the anti-dowry Act but the ministry of women and child development minister was not doing anything about it. "Are you a wife development or a woman development minister?" he asked.
Dr Anumapa Singh, who counsels couples, pointed to the anomaly in the domestic violence law in that the aggrieved party could only be a woman while the respondent could only be a male. "We have witnessed violence at home where the perpetrator is a woman. So why does the law hold a man as the accused?" she wanted to know. TOI had reacted to an observation of the Orissa chairperson of the state commission for women on September 19, 2007, when she had said that these laws were being abused. We had felt there should be checks on such abuse and said, "In cases where a complaint is proved false beyond doubt, the accuser must face a jail term." This would act as a deterrent to the abuse of Sec 498A, we felt.
At the meeting on Wednesday, however, the men's group wanted the laws to be scrapped altogether — which is not such a good idea as it is undeniable that many women do get harassed by greedy husbands and in-laws and need legal protection. Sanjay Bhartia of the Gender Human Rights Society said, "We have been opposing the domestic violence Act and have even submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister last year on the issue," he said. Bhartia added that there was need to review the laws that were radically tilted in favour of women and open to misuse.
Men's organisations invited for the interaction landed up in huge numbers with posters and banners, disrupting the consultation with their sloganeering.
Faced with vehement opposition, WCD minister Renuka Chowdhury admitted that she was open to change the law. "Law-making is a dynamic process. We are ready to change the law but as of now there will be no amendments to it," she said.
Reacting to the constant allegations of misuse, Chowdhury said that there were enough deterrents in the penal code to punish those found guilty of misuse. She, however, did not spell out the deterrents.
Wednesday's protest came at a time when the Delhi police commissioner has issued instructions that only the husband and not the extended family can be arrested in anti-dowry cases. Reacting sharply to this, National Commission for Women chairperson Girija Vyas said, "If the anti-dowry law is taken lightly, women will suffer a huge loss. Only 6% of the cases are false under the Act."
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