Sunday, August 15, 2010

SC upholds HC orders for Daughter-in-Law to pay rent to Mother-in-law

SC upholds HC orders for Daughter-in-Law to pay rent to Mother-in-law

\Pune: In a landmark decision of its kind, the Apex Court upheld Mumbai High Court’s order, ordering a daughter-in-law to pay rent to her mother-in-law for illegally occupying the house. The order was passed by the SC on Monday, 19th July 2010.

The Supreme Court comprising of a bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma has upheld the order of the Mumbai High Court, where a woman was asked to pay the dues to her Mother-in-law, who happens to be the owner of the property. This property was illegally possessed by the daughter-in-law by approaching the court with unclean hands in a divorce case filed by the woman Manisha (name changed) against her husband Deepak (name changed) who is based out of Pune currently.

The High Court bench comprising of Justice D.B. Bhosale, had directed the petitioner Manisha to pay rent for a period of 12 months at Rs. 5,000/- per month for the period in which she and her parents had illegally occupied the flat. The High Court also noted the fact that the Domestic Violence Act was being severely misused by women to grab property of husbands and in-laws.

“I have lost precious five years of my youth and my career because of this litigation. At the end, even if I won the case, I will never get these peak years back. Who is responsible for my lost years? Who is going to take the onus of returning the lost happiness of my parents at their old age? However, I am extremely thankful to my counsel Mrs. Seema Dhavale for helping me to get justice” Deepak signs off.

Says Atit Rajpara, member of Save Indian Family Foundation, a men’s rights organization, “This order by the Apex Court comes to rescue for those countless men who are not only facing rampant domestic violence from their wives but are also unable to get any respite due to hostile social situation pit against men. As per National Crime Records Bureau, in the last 12 years i.e. 1996 – 2008, 170,000 husbands have committed suicide directly due to Domestic Violence. Yet, there is no law in India to protect men from Domestic Violence.”

http://www.newsxonline.com/world-news/sc-upholds-hc-orders-for-daughter-in-law-to-pay-rent-to-mother-in-law-201007221504

Full text @

For 'harassed' men, Independence Day will be sugarless - Sugarless Independence day - Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) national conference at Yercaud – Demand mens welfare ministry gender neutral laws- 498a, PWDVA ( domestic violence act, sexual harassment at workplace bill and shared parenting and joint child custody

http://www.google.co.in/search?q=For+%27harassed%27+men%2C+Independence+Day+will+be+sugarless&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

For 'harassed' men, Independence Day will be sugarless

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/For-harassed-men-Independence-Day-will-be-sugarless/articleshow/6303403.cms#ixzz0wckcDvv8

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/national/harassed-men-independence-day-will-be-sugarless-460

IANS, Aug 13, 2010, 09.17am IST

 

CHANDIGARH/SHIMLA: A clutch of Indian men are preparing to mark a "sugarless" Independence Day this year as a symbol of the bitter life they have been handed out by women who harass them and even deny them parenting rights.


To show that even men get hounded in society, men's rights organisation Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) is organising a 'Sugarless Independence Day' conference Aug 15 at Yercaud in Tamil Nadu, a hill station 32km from the steel town of Salem.


"Men's rights activists attending the conference have decided to have sugarless tea or coffee on August 15 this year and also not to have any other sweets. This is an epitome of the bitterness in the lives of men who are living in a society where there are only expectations from them," said Gaurav Saini, coordinator of SIFF's Chandigarh chapter.


SIFF, which started in Bangalore in 2005, now claims a membership of nearly 30,000 men in India and abroad. It positions itself as a men's rights organisation fighting against the misuse of dowry laws, domestic violence act and other laws perceived as anti-male.


"On Independence Day, when we meet we will abstain from taking sugary foodstuff," Virag Dhulia, a senior member of SIFF, said.
The Yercaud conference, the third of its kind, will have nearly 200 men's rights activists from all over India, representing about 15 different NGOs working for men's rights and participating to intensify the movement of men's rights in India.


Another Bangalore-based NGO, CRISP (Children's Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting), is among the participants.
"This is a unique way of lodging our protest towards woman-centric Indian Penal Code (IPC) clauses, which are totally unconstitutional," CRISP founder presidentKumar V Jahgirdar said.


But National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) records say there were 195,856 crimes against women in 2008, of which 81,344 cases were of cruelty by husbands and their relatives against married women.


"Men continue to dominate every sphere of society. In cases of crimes related to women, they are mostly the tormentors rather than the victims. Some men may have been harassed by women but their numbers would be minuscule compared to women victims," women rights activist Abhilasha Bali said.


But the conference will nevertheless highlight the plight of "harassed" men. "This men's rights conference is being conducted to discuss and intensify the awareness campaign on various problems being faced by men in India as sons, brothers, husbands and fathers, including skyrocketing suicide rates by men, especially married men," SIFF coordinator Mandeep Puri said.


Puri pointed out that as per the NCRB, nearly 58,000 married men are committing suicide every year compared to only about 30,000 married women.


"From 1996 to 2008, 170,000 married men have committed suicide directly due to domestic violence," he added.
SIFF activists are upset that there is no concern in India about the plight of men.


"Not a single rupee has been allocated for men's welfare in the union budget in the last 63 years of independence even though men pay 82 percent of the taxes. Not a single study has been conducted by the government to study men's issues. Men do not even have a welfare ministry of their own whereas animals have," Puri pointed out.


Gaurav Saini said: "As per the NCRB, from 2004 to 2008, 550,000 men have been arrested without trial or investigation under Section 498-A, merely on the basis of a complaint from their wives.


"The mothers and sisters of men face hostile situations too. As per the NCRB, from 2004 to 2008, 160,000 innocent mothers and sisters of husbands were arrested without trial or investigation under Section 498-A, merely on the basis of a complaint from the wives of their brothers and sons."


SIFF activists say men are often treated as 'unpaid bodyguards' and 'free ATM machines' for the family.


"This time again we will discuss ways to impress upon the central government regarding the setting up of a men and child welfare ministry on the pattern of the women and child welfare ministry," said Jahgirdar, who is fighting for the shared parenting of his 10-year-old daughter with his ex-wife.


CRISP, with its 2,500 members, is also demanding shared parenting and joint custody as a rule in separation and divorce cases.
Delhi-based child counsellorEkta Singh said: "These days both the parents are working and they are playing an equal role in bringing up the child. For a child, both the parents are equally important and isolation of one of them in most cases leads to mental distress and trauma in the child."


She said the courts should also be more flexible on shared parenting like allowing the children to stay with their father on vacations or weekends.

Read more: For 'harassed' men, Independence Day will be sugarless - India - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/For-harassed-men-Independence-Day-will-be-sugarless/articleshow/6303403.cms#ixzz0wck7JbNO

 

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I-Day ‘no sugar day’ for hubbies

 

Posted On Friday, August 13, 2010 at 05:13:39 AM

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/article/10/201008132010081305133965923e46f13/IDay-%E2%80%98no-sugar-day%E2%80%99-for-hubbies.html

Hemanth.Kashyap@timesgroup.com

Come August 15, harassed husbands from various parts of the country will meet and devise ways to get freedom from their wives. The day will also be observed as a ‘Sugarless Day’ in which they will abstain from sweets.

As the nation celebrates its 64th year of Independence from British rule, more than 500 harassed husbands will meet at Yercaud, a hill station near Salem (Tamil Nadu), and chalk out strategies to legally fight their former wives and in-laws.
While it is common to distribute sweets on the occasion of Independence Day, these husbands will boycott sweets. Reason: they haven’t got freedom from their wives.

BITTER LIFE
These husbands, who represent CRISP (Children’s Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting) Bangalore  and SIFF (Save Indian Family Foundation), besides some NGOs, will have sugarless coffee and tea, and avoid sweets - an expression of “bitterness in our lives”.
“Unfortunately, we live in a society where there are only expectations from us and no acceptance,” said Kumar Jahgirdar, President, CRISP.
“We want custody of the child and want divorce cases settled at the earliest. The more the delay, more the harassment by our wives and the police,” said Panduranga Katti, president, SIFF.
More than 1,000 cases are awaiting speedy disposal in various family courts across the country. “We’ll work out strategies to put an end to our plight,” said Katti.

Third conclave

The first such conference was held in Goa in 2008 and the second in Shimla, in 2009. This is the third meet. Maharashtra’s Purush Suraksha Sanstha and Uttar Pradesh’s Pathi Paramesh Kendra will also take part in the event. The husbands contend they are trapped in a ‘women-centric society’ and will not celebrate I-Day until their demands are met.

‘MEN’S WELFARE’ MINISTRY

Their demands include creation of a separate ministry for men’s welfare on the lines of women and child welfare ministry, equal taxation for men and women, change in inheritance laws, amendment to Domestic Violation Act of 2005 and mandatory joint custody of children for divorced couples.
A SIFF member said the suicide rate among husbands is twice that among women. “More than 1.2 lakh harassed husbands have committed suicide in the past five years. We are committed to fighting such wives through these forums,” he said.

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On Independence day men Demand gender neutral laws

On I-Day, men to demand neutral laws

2010-08-14 18:50:00

When India celebrates its 64th Independence Day Sunday, around 100 men representing nearly 15 NGOs would press for the formulation of gender neutral laws at a meeting at the Yercaud hill station in Tamil Nadu.

The men's rights groups would meet in the cool climes of Yercaud under the aegis of Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) to hotly deliberate social, judicial, health and other domestic issues affecting men.

They would also launch helplines and a National Litigant Bench (NLB) which will educate men involved in litigation at the meeting at Yercaud, some 380 km from Chennai.

'The worst sufferers of judicial delays are men. The NLB will help litigants in knowing their rights so that they are protected from undue judicial delays,' Uma Challa, president of All India Men's Welfare Association (AIMWA) told IANS over phone from Hyderabad.

'With cases taking decades to get settled, litigants lose their prime youth in going to courts rather than engaging in productive work,' Manoj, one of the architects of NLB, told IANS.

The one common thread binding the men's rights activists is that they all were involved in litigation mostly filed under women-centric laws or legal provisions.

'There is blatant abuse of legal provisions. If a person is found guilty, he should be punished. But when you bring in the element of monetary compensation for the complainant, then misuse of legal provisions kicks in,' Manoj said.

Legal provisions were framed to protect law-abiding women, but these are often misused, said Kumar V. Jahgirdar, a stock broker by profession and president of Child Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP) based in Bangalore.

In India, divorces are turning out to be a tsunami for men. When divorce tsunami hits a man, he loses everything including his children, he said.

'As to children visitation rights, on an average a father gets around 2-4 hours once in 15 days which is very insignificant,' he added.

'Our demand is that laws should be applied on a neutral basis. For instance, law provides for a man to claim maintenance from his wife. But when that provision is sought to be invoked society ridicules men,' Challa said citing her own brother's case.

'Not that my brother wanted to claim maintenance from his wife. It is just that we wanted to test the legal provision and he was ridiculed,' she added.

Suresh Ram of AIMWA added: 'The women's organisations are headed by radical feminists and women laws are influenced by them. In the name of individuals' rights, families are destroyed.'

http://sify.com/news/on-i-day-men-to-demand-neutral-laws-news-national-kiosOedeghi.html

Supreme Court asks Parliament to revisit dowry-related legislation

Supreme Court asks Parliament to revisit dowry-related legislation

The Supreme Court on Friday asked Parliament to revisit the provision relating to cruelty and dowry harassment, pointing out that large number of frivolous complaints are filed and courts are flooded with such matrimonial cases.

A Bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan said “a serious relook of the entire provision is warranted by the legislation.”

It said: “The courts are receiving a large number of cases emanating from section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty).

It is also a matter of common knowledge that exaggerated versions of the incident are reflected in a large number of complaints. The tendency of over implication is also reflected in a very large number of cases.”

Writing the judgment, Justice Bhandari said “The criminal trials lead to immense sufferings for all concerned. Even ultimate acquittal in the trial may also not be able to wipe out the deep scars of suffering of ignominy. Unfortunately a large number of these complaints have not only flooded the courts but also have led to enormous social unrest affecting peace, harmony and happiness of the society.”

Maintaining that it was high time the legislature makes suitable changes to the existing law, the Bench said “It is imperative for the legislature to take into consideration the informed public opinion and the pragmatic realities in consideration and make necessary changes in the relevant provisions of law.”

On the increasing number of matrimonial litigations in the country, it said “All the courts in our country including this court are flooded with matrimonial cases. This clearly demonstrates discontent and unrest in the family life of a large number of people of the society.”

The Judges said “It is a matter of common experience that most of these complaints under section 498-A IPC are filed in the heat of the moment over trivial issues without proper deliberations. We come across a large number of such complaints which are not even bona fide and are filed with oblique motive. At the same time, rapid increase in the number of genuine cases of dowry harassment are also a matter of serious concern.”

Cautioning the advocates, the Bench said “The members of the Bar have enormous social responsibility and obligation to ensure that the social fibre of family life is not ruined or demolished. They must ensure that exaggerated versions of small incidents should not be reflected in the criminal complaints. Majority of the complaints are filed either on their advice or with their concurrence. They must discharge their duties to the best of their abilities to ensure that social fibre, peace and tranquillity of the society remains intact. The members of the Bar should also ensure that one complaint should not lead to multiple cases. Unfortunately, at the time of filing of the complaint the implications and consequences are not properly visualised by the complainant that such complaint can lead to insurmountable harassment, agony and pain to the complainant, accused and his close relations.”

In the instant case, the appellants Preeti Gupta, the married sister-in-law, a resident of Surat and brother-in-law Gaurav Poddar challenged the Jharkand High Court order refusing to quash the summons issued by a trial court in Ranchi, in a criminal case filed under Section 498-A by one Manisha Poddar against her husband Kamal Poddar and his relatives, in a matrimonial dispute. Contending that the case had been foisted against them they sought quashing of the impugned judgment and the complaint. The Bench accepting the contentions allowed the appeal and quashed the judgment and the complaint against the appellants.

 

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article571008.ece

also 0n 17 aug 2010 @

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Amend-dowry-law-to-stop-its-misuse-SC-tells-govt/articleshow/6321987.cms