India :
HUNGER STRIKE BY DASHRATH TO PREVENT MISUSE OF IPC498A AND ANIT-MEN LAW LIKE CRPC125,HMA24, DV ACT IN JANTAR MANTAR DELHI FROM 15TH MAY 2011.
ALL ARE REQUESTED TO BE PRESENT ON SATURDAY 4.00 PM ONWARDS AT JANTAR MANTAR TO RAISE YOUR VOICE ALONG WITH YOUR AGE OLD PARENTS AND SISTERS WHO ARE VICTIM OF SUCH MISUSE OF LAW AND LEGAL TERRORISM AS DESCRIBED BY SUPREME COURT OF INDIA.
Inspite of SC direction to review the same law LAW Ministry not taken any effective time bound action. This time they have to give us the time bound confirmation of action.
We wonder Whose life is in More Danger in India : Men or Women?
Crime Bure data 2005 : Married Men Sucide : 52k vs Married Women Sucide 28K.Still there is no LAW to Protect Men why?
2006 Crime Bure Data : Married Men Sucide:55452 vs. Married Women Sucide:29869.
2007 Crime Bure Data : Married Men Sucide:57593 vs. Married Women Sucide:30064
Will Our LAW Maker change the LAW 304B( dowry death) to 304C( Sowry Death) and 498A ( harrasement to wife) to 498B ( Sowry harrasement by wife)
Urgently Review the Present IPC 498A and Make Same Gender Natural.
The Government needs to act NOW Save Family Foundation urges the Government of India to make the following amendments to the law and ensure that ordinary citizens of India are spared from needless harassment:
1.Section 498A of IPC should be made bailable.
Section 498A, being non-bailable, allows punishing the accused by imprisonment even before guilt is established. This goes against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law. Abused women need protection, but placing unconditional faith in the statements of a woman and confining the accused husband and his family in police or judicial custody, until bail is granted by a court, is not the way to accord protection to women.
2.Section 498A of IPC should be made non-cognizable.
Innocent citizens are being arrested everyday based on mere complaints without requiring evidence or investigation. Even children and senior citizens are not being spared. IPC 498A, being a cognizable offence, violates a citizen’s right to due process.
3.IPC 498A and Domestic Violence Law should be made gender neutral.
Domestic abuse is not gender specific. The assumption that victims of physical, verbal, emotional, sexual, and financial abuse are always women is wrong. According the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “all are equal before the law, and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law”. Hence, men should also be accorded protection from physical, verbal, emotional, sexual, and financial abuse by women.
4. Persons who misuse IPC 498A and Domestic Violence Law should be penalized.
Misuse of the process of law not only costs the public exchequer dearly, but also destroys the personal lives of many innocent citizens. Misuse of law should be treated as a serious crime, and persons who use women-protection laws as weapons for settling personal scores in marital disputes should be severely punished.
Gender Biased LAW should immediately be made crime based instead of any assumption that all women never lie and all the men are born as Criminals. “MEN/WOMEN” word to be replaced by word “PERSON” and word wife/husband to be replaced with the word “SPOUSE”
Further it is totally wrong to assume and biased view that each and every suicide of a women due to men and all the suicide of men the same to be termed as social service by women , even when it is clear evidence that the women is responsible for the suicide of the men , still such women get Scot free . Our Study reports “Domestic Violence against Men” confirm the same beyond the reasonable dought (Enclosed for your reference). If we consider the definition of the Present DV act, like Verbal abuse, mental abuse, economical abuse, Physical abuse and sexual abuse, more than 98% Men also face the same at their Home.
The current domestic violence act was drafted by lawyers whose expertise on 1st principle of law making and justice can be shown to be questionable. Some of their key members are unable to understand that words police, bail, jail, bonds have no place in a civil law. A law to jail, “tadipar” and fine can be provided only in accordance with a criminal matter that is in criminal laws.The similar set of lawyers fail to provide IPC or the civil law where in the men have any rights though they make a claim that problems faced by men can be taken care of . The current Domestic violence laws need to scrap to be replaced by more reasonable laws a domestic harmony laws in consultation with a panel consisting of Retired judges. Such can be done in 6 months. Let us remove the lawyers from the equation and their self interest. Let the Husband/wife say the truth in Family courts, instead of making twisted allegation against each other by the twisted advice of lawyers. This law is cynically ignorant of the first principle of human rights, dignity, law and justice.
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (DV Law), which evens the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, has termed as clumsily drafted, has several provisions that are wrong and goes against the common sense and tramples the fundamental rights, such as equal protection under the law and the right to own property. This is to bring to your notice these wrongs and request a review for changes, or scraping of this Law to help the society. Under section 17 of the DV Law, women can seek entry into any house, she ever lived in the past 10 years, whether she has any claim or right to it or not.
Under section 19 she can throw any man, who was in a domestic relationship with her, out of his own house. This law is worded in a fashion that the house could be of senior citizens or retirees, a man’s friends or relatives, etc. Senior citizens work all their lives to save and live in a house of their own to live their golden years with dignity. This is an outright injustice to force to them to abandon their own homes. This law offers unscrupulous women and their greedy relatives, the incentive to legally grab property and hold the owners to ransom or subject them to extortion.
While Judiciary seems to have a taken a much more proactive stance in containing misuse of DV laws compared to 498a and dowry law where in almost a free for all free reign has been given to misuser . The obvious misuse and abuse of families cases in DV are too numerous. All the cases filed with only one intention to extort the money form the husband’s family, nothing else.
We, on behalf of Save Family Foundation, Delhi, write to you to expeditiously amend the lopsided PWDVA which was passed on the basis of assumption and biased view along with under tremendous pressure from a small minority of vocal and radical Groups elements of our country, who want that each and every home a litigation should start ( Promotion of Legal Terrorism) and a Huge money had been invested for that purpose, which is evident from their huge cry that why only approx.10000 Domestic Violence case filed in one year, it evident that those groups work like a Business Group who had invested huge money with the expectation the expected Profit and Business Turnover and for that they are desperate to ensure that there should not be any single home to be spared where Litigation not started.
Hence our sincere request to you to take immediate action, if we really want a Happy Family life in India and our Future Child will not spend their Child hood under Father Less Society:
Replace the word “Husband and Wife” with “Spouse”.
Replace the word “Men and Women” with “Person”.
Government should make the provision for Shelter Home and other facility to the victim of Domestic Violence, as an interim relief.
Establish the Family Court without Lawyers and the Domestic Disputes to be resolved in Family Court only.
In case found the complainant had not come to file the case in Clean Hand and misused the LAW along with Judiciary / administrative authority, they should be punished and the fine amount should go to Government as revenue.
Duplication/ multiple maintenance case to be stopped. This is total abuse of not only the natural Justice Systems and Duplication of LAW, this is the main motivation for filling false and fabricated case to extort the money from Husbands family.
There should not be any direct Compensation to the Complainant, if the offence proved beyond reasonable dought the offender should be Punished or fined and in such fine amount should go to the Government Revenue only. The same should be used for the well fare of real victim of Domestic Violence as a collectively. There should not be any difference or discrimination of Rich or poor people and different facility. All should be treated as same standard.
Those cases already 498A/Divorce/CRPC125 or any other cases had been filed and couple are not staying together and their case already pending in court , should not be allowed to file another DV case ( This is total Violation of Indian Constitution of article 20 , where a accused can’t be punished twice for the same offence)
· WCD (Ministry of Women and Child Development) review committees consist of all women committees with radical and extreme views. We seek that representatives of NGO’s like Save Family Foundation and their associates should be included in this committee. This is to ensure that there is balance and sanity in the review of the law.
· Service providers in DV (Domestic Violence) LAW should be neutral persons and made accountable for their actions to ensure justice for the greater good of society. Restricting service providers to women’s group’s activists and organizations is like asking the wolf to guard the sheep. These groups are not above temptation to extortion, blackmail and corruption. Besides, who will monitor their actions and penalize them for abuses? Judges and officials should be neutral. They should be insulated from pressure and intimidation under the garb of gender sensitization.
The other problem is that a specious argument by similar set of lawyers is made that residence right previously not available is being made available. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Women and men both have same residence rights in fact women have better rights then men. Both can rent or buy houses. (Women actually pay less property tax in some states so it becomes clear that women had marginally superior rights). What has happened in the new laws that husbands and their families have been denied their residential rights.
It should be important that even a convicted murderer or terrorists are not denied their residence in his owned or rented residence. Further they failed to understand the Indian society that it is the Husbands family providing the residence to women in more than 99% cases. Such type of law, where your own right to stay in your own residence refused, in long run will make the poor girls family life more miserable as very few people will be really interested to marry girl who does not have a own residence.
The right of retired persons to live peacefully in houses purchased out of their retirement funds is being sought to be made unavailable to it as per present Domestic Violence LAW.
The other curious problem which has started that even violent women are getting their way in the domestic violence cases as there have been disturbing judgments to that affect . In addition to that as the law failed to describe what is “live-in-relationship” with a strict time frame to claim the legal rights form each other like all other developed countries, creating a situation where a job and right of a prostitutes and normal women made equal and there is no difference at all.
Another disturbing element is regards custody of children. It has upheld the traditional notion of women as children making machines. A husband or mother-in-law who has raised his children could go to Jail merely on account of taking care of children. That there are reports of such happening raises further cause for complaint.
Other disturbing elements have been arrests happening in DV law for non presence. Civil and marital law does not envision arrests or arrest warrants. (The only arrest warrants should be for non compliance of orders not for non presence where in ex prate order may be granted).
View Point: Domestic Violence Act lacks perspective By Zamir Uddin , Central Chronicle News. “In short, the DVA-2005 in its enthusiastic thoughtlessness has throttled all avenues of reconciliation, has weakened the foundations of the institution of marriage, and vitiated conjugal life by developing a false sense of ego and a fictional helplessness among women. When it comes to man-woman relationship let us listen to the traditional but sane voice of John Milton, the English poet and moralist. Milton says that man represents reason and woman passion. As long as reason dominates passion, there is cosmos, but the moment passion dominates reason, chaos ensues. Let us view marital life from this viewpoint for marriage is not a bed of roses but a domestic battlefield. Unless husband and wife bring immense goodwill and sacrifice to bear upon their marital fortunes, their situation is desperate. The DVA need to be replaced by some more benign, sensible, gender-neutral legislation that may ensure women their rightful, honorable place at home and abroad, at the same time not forgetting the rights of men.”
We want a better Society for our Future Generation and Stop a Father less Child Society, which in turn not only will increase the crime in the society , it is evident from the various study that a father less child had been victim of child abuse at least 10 times more than a normal child.Gender Biased LAW should immediately to be made crime based instead of any assumption that all women never lie and all the men born as Criminal. “MEN/WOMEN” word to be replaced by word “PERSON” and word wife/husband to be replaced with the word “SPOUSE”With High Regards (Save Family Foundation)Encl: Study Report of “Domestic Violence against Men”
Further Reference: Read latest News at www.savefamily.org
रायपुर। छत्तीसगढ़ के कोरबा में एक जज को उनकी पत्नी ने पेट्रोल छिड़ककर जिंदा जलाने का प्रयास किया। जज की शिकायत पर पुलिस ने आरोपी पत्नी को गिरफ्तार कर लिया। मंगलवार को मुख्य न्यायिक मजिस्ट्रेट के समक्ष आरोपी को पेश किया गया, जहां से उसे न्यायिक हिरासत में भेज दिया गया। बताया गया है कि कुछ समय से दोनों के संबंध ठीक नहीं चल रहे थे।
स्थानीय अदालत में न्यायिक दंडाधिकारी द्वितीय श्रेणी केपी सिंह भदौरिया ने पुलिस को बताया कि मंगलवार सुबह घर में उनकी पत्नी मन्नू ने उन [जज] पर पेट्रोल छिड़क दिया और माचिस लेकर उनकी ओर दौड़ीं। जज ने भागकर अपनी जान बचाई। कोरबा के पुलिस अधीक्षक रतन लाल डांगी ने बताया कि जज की शिकायत पर मुकदमा दर्ज कर मन्नू को गिरफ्तार कर लिया गया।
मन्नू ने बताया कि वह अपने पति से परेशान थी। उसने करीब आठ साल पहले अपने पति के खिलाफ दहेज प्रताड़ना का मामला दर्ज कराया था, लेकिन बाद में उनके बीच सुलह हो गई थी।
http://in.jagran.yahoo.com/news/national/crime/5_18_6996221.html
Man fighting for harassed husbands fined 1L by Gujarat HC
Marital stress drives more men to suicide than women-Demand Men's Welfare Ministry and National Commision for Men on International Men’s day 2010
Rebecca Samervel TNN
Mumbai
Has the equation in the war of the sexes changed
Strange it may sound,but the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) figures released by a city-based mens rights advocacy group shows that the number of married men ending their lives is far more than their female counterparts.And the group claims that the men to women suicide ratio of 65:35 indicates that it is the men can now don the tag of the oppressed sex.
The data was revealed on the World Mens Day by the Indian Family Foundation,a global movement started by the families of Indian men facing abuse in the hands of their wives.According to the figures mentioned in the report in 2008,57,639 married men across the country killed themselves,compared to 30,224 married women.Every nine minutes,an Indian husband commits suicide.Men contribute to 92 % taxes but face 100% ignorance, an organization member said.
The organization pointed out that most of the men who ended their lives were often ridiculed as being weak and irresponsible and denied any support or counselling.No one believes that men can be victims of domestic violence.But a survey shows that in the past 12 years,1,70,000 married men have committed suicide,as they could no longer bear the domestic strife, Zaveri added.
The organization blames the phenomenon on the fact that the world has turned a deaf ear to all the complaints coming from men.There is no limit to the expectations from a man.The unaddressed domestic abuse and family disputes are taking a huge toll on married men.No one shares their pain and there is no social support system for these distressed men, an organization member said.In spite of the suicide of the doctor from Lucknow who left behind a suicide note accusing his wife and in-laws of cruelty,no action has been taken by the police.
The group is now urging the government to start a ministry for men and also a National Commission for Men on the lines of the ones that exist for women.If there can be a government organization for women,children and even animals,we deserve to have one as well, Zaveri said.
Indian Family Foundation (IFF) Activists protest Rakhi Sawant's remarks on International Men’s Day - Demand Men's Welfare Ministry and National Commision for Men
Demanding the arrest of Rakhi Sawant in connection with the recent controversy on her TV show, a group of male activists from the Indian Family Foundation (IFF) came together on International Men’s day on Friday, raised the grievances of men and spoke about the alleged misuse of women-centric laws in the country.
“If a woman was called impotent on national TV, we are sure that the National Commission for Women would have ensured that the male host was behind the bars,” says Bunty Jain, vice-president, IFF. “We are not against women but we are looking for gender neutrality in the country,” says Jain.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau, in the last 12 years, 1,70,000 married men have committed suicide due to domestic violence. Reflecting upon the rising figures of suicide rates among Indian husbands, the IFF questioned this bias and demanded separate machinery to record complaints by men under cognisable offences.
Milind Chindarkar’s wife committed suicide on February 18, 2010, and it has been established in the post-mortem report that her death was due to hanging. His sister told DNA, “Our family is falsely accused in abetting her suicide. He has not been proven guilty but is undergoing imprisonment for nine months. He is not getting bail on the grounds that he might tamper with evidence once he’s out. We have lost my sister-in-law already, we are fearful of losing my brother.”
In another case, on October 3, 2008, Husain Ali Khan’s wife Alimunisa left home, and after eight months, accused the family of cruelty under section 498 (A) of the Indian Penal Code (husband or relative of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) in April 2009. She has demanded maintenance charges of Rs25,000 per month, and a flat. Khan’s sister Shaheeda says, “We hadn’t even asked her family for dowry.”
“Since laws in the country favour women, men’s trust in marriage is decreasing, giving way to live-in relationships,” says Jinesh Zaveri, activist with the IFF.
CHENNAI: On the occasion of International Men's Day on Friday, the All India Men's Welfare Association (AIMWA) reiterated its demand to the Union Government that a National Commission for Men (on the lines of National Commission for Women) be set up to study issues of men.Suresh Ram, member of AIMWA, said, "For the third year since the association has been formed, we are reiterating the important and righteous demand before the government, but nothing seems to be moving in that way." Strongly demanding amendments into 84odd Acts and laws that has been seen by the association as antimen, Suresh said, "Most of them were used only to harass and blackmail men (by women), and 98 per cent of such cases were never led to conviction and finally they turned out to be fake complaints." The need for seeking national commission for men was to ensure rights and other privileges given to men in the society, he added.
http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/why-not-a-national-commission-for-men/224528.html
The Vakola police have registered a case of murder against a housewife on Sunday.
The 31-year-old woman, Jyoti, allegedly set her husband, Rajendra Jaiswal, on fire in September after she learnt that he had been involved in an extra-marital affair.
Initially, police booked Jyoti for attempt to murder. She, on the other hand, had registered a case of dowry harassment against Rajendra. However, after her husband died due to his burn injuries on Sunday, police have registered a murder case against her.
According to the police, the incident occurred at the Jaiswals' residence on September 29 afternoon. The couple initially had an argument over household issues that later turned into a heated exchange of words and then a scuffle. Following this Jyoti brought a bottle filled with kerosene, poured the liquid over Jaiswal and set him ablaze.
"Jyoti also sustained thirty per cent burns and had earlier told the police in her statement that Jaiswal had burnt himself and she got burnt while trying to save him. She also claimed that Jaiswal had been harassing her and demanding dowry ever since they got married in 2004," said an officer fromVakola police station.
Rajendra had sustained 55% burns and was admitted in a hospital at Santa Cruz (East). Jyoti was admitted at VN Desai Hospital for treatment.
"Initially, we filed cross complaints following the duo's statements. But after Rajendra's death, we have registered a case of murder against Jyoti but have not arrested her till now. We will investigate the case and then take action. The body has been sent to Cooper Hospital for post mortem," said senior police inspector Anil Kharade.
Monday, November 01, 2010 7:15:17 PM by IANS
Ahmedabad, Nov 1(IANS) A 22-year old man of Amraiwadi area of the city attempted suicide after his wife threatened to abort her pregnancy, police said Monday.
“Surendrasinh Bhadoria, a resident of Payal Park Society, consumed poison Sunday after his wife Arti said she would abort her four-month old pregnancy,” police said.
Married for over two years, their relationship had soured in the recent past. The wife’s parents had also threatened to slap a dowry case against Surendra and his family, police said.
Surendra has been admitted to a hospital, and is out of danger, police said.
This is to bring to the notice of all about the Celebration of NATIONAL FAMILY HARMONY DAY, like it was held last year.
This time in Bangalore "Law Minister for State Mr. Suresh Kumar" has consented to attend and witness the Programme along with
Commissioner of Police, Bangalore City, Mr. Shankara Bidari
Member of Legislative Counsel, Mrs. S.R. Leela
Member of Legislative Assembly, Mr. Ravisubramanya
President of Women Devlopment Corporation, Mrs. Sarojini Bharadwaj
Wife of Member of Parliament Ananthkumar, Mrs. Tejaswini Ananthkumar
Renowned Psychiatrist and Scientist from NIMHANS, Bangalore, Dr. C R Chandrashekar
Folk Arts fame, from Folk Culture University, Mr.Janapada Ramanna.
There will be a Competitional debate convention on the subject "WOMEN CANNOT WORK?... WOMEN HAS TO BE MAINTAINED BY A MAN ALWAYS?"
Around 300 women are expected to participate in the programme.
18 NGOs are supporting and taking Active participation in the Organization and Press confrence to be held on 09-11-2010, including, Akhil Bharath Hindu Maha-sabha, a political Party State Unit, and local BJP unit.
Please feel free to contact 9743183369 for further details.
with regards
R. Shivashankara
President : SAMSEVA
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You can speak about the condition of a nation by knowing the status of its womenfolk," Jawaharlal Nehru said this decades ago and fashion designer Ritu Beri quoted him at the launch of the serial "Kali – Ek Agnipariksha."
She added, "This way we (India) have a long way to go." The serial deals with the sexual harassment of women, an issue which can alone bring known faces – Renuka Chowdhury, Indira Jaisingh, Madhu Trehan, Ritu Beri, Dilip Cherian, Ranjan Kumari, Sundari Subramanyam Pujari, CA Sundaram – to one platform.
The jury debated the need to understand the reasons for cases of sexual harassment and the immediate need to put an end to it. While Madhu Trehan appealed for a change in the stereotypical upbringing of girls and boys in India,
Renuka's comment "Not all men are bad," served as a breather. On a serious note, Madhu said, "We have a National Commission for Women but there should also be a National Commission for men and parents to address the root cause for such a social evil. Parents should be taught to not adhere to the conventional idea – "Son, you are special!". it is important for men to learn to respect women."
According to Madhu, education alone can bring this much-needed change, "When I had gone to watch " Bandit Queen" there was a scene in which Phoolan is gangraped. I was shocked but a group of people seated in the front row, which is usually not that expensive, cheered. And later when Phoolan kills her molestors, I heard people seated behind cheering her for her courage. It has nothing to do with money but education." But CA Sundaram wasn't much convinced. He said, "About 20 years back there were neither many educated people nor several harassment cases.
However, two decades down the line, there has been a spurt in the number of educated people and harassment cases." While everybody was trying to find out the rea son and ways to fight the social evil, Ashutosh Rana said, "Sexual harassment has nothing to do with gender bias. It is about display of power. When a man acquires muscle, money and education power, he thinks he owns what he likes. That is when physical assault is interpreted as glory! It's like 'Mujhe car achchi lagi and I should have it in my backyard, mujhe bangla achcha laga and it should be mine. similarly koi ladki achchi lagi toh mere paas honi chahiye," he said.
On being asked if stereotypical notions also exist in the fashion industry, Ritu said, "As someone who has been in the industry, I must say there are no gender biases. In fact we have men complaining of being harassed. All I can say is that it is all about education. It's a social disease. I think, all naughty boys should have daughters so that they know what is it all about."
Campaign group Parity claims assaults by wives and girlfriends are often ignored by police and media
About two in five of all victims of domestic violence are men, contradicting the widespread impression that it is almost always women who are left battered and bruised, a new report claims.
Men assaulted by their partners are often ignored by police, see their attacker go free and have far fewer refuges to flee to than women, says a study by the men's rights campaign group Parity.
The charity's analysis of statistics on domestic violence shows the number of men attacked by wives or girlfriends is much higher than thought. Its report, Domestic Violence: The Male Perspective, states: "Domestic violence is often seen as a female victim/male perpetrator problem, but the evidence demonstrates that this is a false picture."
Data from Home Office statistical bulletins and the British Crime Survey show that men made up about 40% of domestic violence victims each year between 2004-05 and 2008-09, the last year for which figures are available. In 2006-07 men made up 43.4% of all those who had suffered partner abuse in the previous year, which rose to 45.5% in 2007-08 but fell to 37.7% in 2008-09.
Similar or slightly larger numbers of men were subjected to severe force in an incident with their partner, according to the same documents. The figure stood at 48.6% in 2006-07, 48.3% the next year and 37.5% in 2008-09, Home Office statistics show.
The 2008-09 bulletin states: "More than one in four women (28%) and around one in six men (16%) had experienced domestic abuse since the age of 16. These figures are equivalent to an estimated 4.5 million female victims of domestic abuse and 2.6 million male victims."
In addition, "6% of women and 4% of men reported having experienced domestic abuse in the past year, equivalent to an estimated one million female victims of domestic abuse and 600,000 male victims".
Campaigners claim that men are often treated as "second-class victims" and that many police forces and councils do not take them seriously. "Male victims are almost invisible to the authorities such as the police, who rarely can be prevailed upon to take the man's side," said John Mays of Parity. "Their plight is largely overlooked by the media, in official reports and in government policy, for example in the provision of refuge places – 7,500 for females in England and Wales but only 60 for men."
The official figures underestimate the true number of male victims, Mays said. "Culturally it's difficult for men to bring these incidents to the attention of the authorities. Men are reluctant to say that they've been abused by women, because it's seen as unmanly and weak."
The number of women prosecuted for domestic violence rose from 1,575 in 2004-05 to 4,266 in 2008-09. "Both men and women can be victims and we know that men feel under immense pressure to keep up the pretence that everything is OK," said Alex Neil, the housing and communities minister in the Scottish parliament. "Domestic abuse against a man is just as abhorrent as when a woman is the victim."
'Male victims are almost invisible to the authorities,' says John Mays of Parity. Photograph: Guardian
Mark Brooks of the Mankind Initiative, a helpline for victims, said: "It's a scandal that in 2010 all domestic violence victims are still not being treated equally. We reject the gendered analysis that so many in the domestic violence establishment still pursue, that the primary focus should be female victims. Each victim should be seen as an individual and helped accordingly."
Ian McNicholl, 47, has painful memories to remind him of the terror he endured when he found himself a male victim of domestic violence.
His then fiancee, Michelle Williamson, punched him in the face several times, stubbed out cigarettes on his body, lashed him with a vacuum cleaner tube, hit him with a metal bar and a hammer and even poured boiling water on to his lap. That at 6ft he was almost a foot taller than her made no difference. He still has burn marks on his left shoulder from when she used steam from an iron on him. Williamson, 35, is now serving a seven-year jail sentence for causing both actual and grievous bodily harm.
During the trial last year McNicholl told the court that, during more than a year of attacks and intimidation, he had lost his job, home and self-respect. He had been too scared to go to the police and had considered suicide. She was only arrested after two neighbours saw her punch him.
Sentencing her at Grimsby crown court last year, judge John Reddihough told Williamson: "Over the period of time you were with him you destroyed him mentally and seriously harmed him physically, leaving him with both physical and mental scars."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/05/men-victims-domestic-violence
