No Country for Men

  •   Fri, Dec 20 2024
  •   By Ankith S Kumar

December 20, 2024

“It’s a man’s world,” they say, but to what extent? When it comes to Indian Law, we see that men are rarely protected. I say this in the wake of so many fake dowry and sexual harassment cases against men by their spouses and their families. Be it Nisha Sharma’s fake case on her husband which took the poor man and his family more than 10 years to prove their innocence whereas, Nisha was staged as a youth Icon against dowry. It was later proved that she faked the case to avoid marriage as she was already secretly married to her boyfriend or the current Atul Subhash’s case which led to his suicide because of his wife Nikita’s false harassment case. We all know the world-famous case of domestic violence against Hollywood star, Johnny Depp accused by his ex-wife Amber Heard which almost ruined Johnny Depp’s career (at least he got justice in the end). It is always believed that a person is innocent until proven guilty, but when a man is accused of dowry and sexual harassment it goes the other way round- He is guilty until proven innocent. The moment some woman accuses a man and his family of harassment, the entire world starts seeing them as guilty even without going to a court trial, and even after the man is proven innocent, the stigma still gets attached to him saying that he is a “wife beater”. No court document can help the man clear his name once he is falsely accused of harassing his wife. It stays for life. Here, the woman’s tears have more value than a man’s innocence. Yes, there are a lot of genuine cases of dowry and sexual harassment, but at the same time, many women are using Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as a weapon against men to take personal revenge. According to the Times of India report of 2015, every year more than 10,000 complaints of dowry harassment are found to be false. Given that close to 90,000 to 1 lakh cases are investigated every year, the figure makes it one of the most abused laws in the country. This is alarming indeed.


Courtesy TOI, Source NCRB

Marriage is a holy union. It stands on mutual love, trust, understanding, and respect. With the increase in the number of false accusations, the faith in the institution will be completely lost and we do see a rising number of youths opting to stay single. There is a kind of fear and anxiety in the male society now as they are worried about finding the right partners. Marriage itself is a big responsibility and to be with the wrong person will make it worse than hell. In 1769 William Blackstone said that “the law holds that it is better that 10 guilty persons escape, than that 1 innocent suffer (innocent person be convicted).” Here we see a thousand suffering because of one false accusation. Yes, no marriage is perfect but trying to gain from someone’s misery is evil. If women wrongly use the law to punish an innocent husband, then the day will come when all dowry and Section 489A cases will be looked at with suspicion, even the women who have really suffered harassment will have difficulty getting justice. It will be like “ Crying wolf “, the law that is there to protect the woman’s interest will lose its value and integrity. If the marriage is failing, please walk out of that relationship, but please don’t ruin each other life. The burden of the legal process should not fall on anyone as it will drag you to the streets and ruin your life. Anti Dowry Act and Section 498A are there to protect women from real crimes and criminals. It should not be abused and used as a weapon to settle personal vendettas. Marriage is one of the most sacred bonds that we humans can create. Let’s not make it as something to be feared. Let’s hope that we do not see another Atul suffering because of the misuse of laws. Let there be Love, not War.

Have a happy married life everyone. 

 

 
By Ankith S Kumar
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Comment on this article

  • Minal, Karkala

    Sat, Dec 21 2024

    A well-articulated piece highlighting a critical societal concern. It’s a reminder that laws should safeguard justice, not be tools for vengeance. Well written and though provoking sir!


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