CRITICAL ANALYSIS ON “DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN IN INDIA” By - Vishakha Jaiprakash Thanvi
CRITICAL
ANALYSIS ON “DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN IN INDIA”
Authored By
- Vishakha Jaiprakash Thanvi
BA-LLB 4th
Year Student at TMV’S Lokmanya
Tilak Law College Kharghar
ABSTRACT
Patriarchy has been deeply
ingrained in the histories of many countries around the world. Despite the fact
that the definition of patriarchy placed men in a superior position and women
in a lower one, no one truly benefits from it. The phrase “patriarchy” is
easily distinguished from its self-defeating impact on men since it implies “men-dominance.”
Furthermore, we naturally believe that men are the perpetrators and women are
the victims when we hear phrases like “violence” or “abuse.” It’s critical to
emphasize that men can endure abuse and violence in order to debunk this
stereotype. According to a 2019 poll, 52% of males say they have at some point
in their lives suffered violence from an intimate partner or spouse. According
to a research conducted across all of India, 98% of Indian males had
experienced domestic abuse more than once. However, a male perpetrator is
responsible for roughly 95% of all violent incidents involving both men and
women.
KEY WORDS- Gender Biased Laws, Psychological
Violence, Emotional Violence, Cruelty, Physical Assault
I.
INTRODUCTION
Domestic violence is the use of force
or abuse, more particularly an act of violence against a member of an immediate
family or any other person residing in the household. The concept of domestic violence
persist in India from a very long time and is quite prevalent as well. When we
hear the term domestic violence, we often assume that a man is the aggressor
and the woman is the one who suffered, but this situation might not always be
true. Domestic violence against man is not easy to identify but is a big and serious
threat to society. Domestic violence does not only include the physical violence
alone, it’s ambit is wide as it also includes emotional, psychological and verbal
violence too much like insulting, showing oppressive jealousy, not letting an
individual to maintain relations with one's family, controlling finances with
malafide intentions and etc. According to a research, 1 out of every 3 man in
India suffers from domestic violence.[1]
Violence is any purposeful act of aggression and harm towards oneself or
another. In the context of this article, domestic violence is referred to as
violence. The phrase “domestic violence” refers to a wide variety of violent
acts carried out by one family member or household member against another. It
frequently alludes to mistreating a spouse or child. The bond between the
abuser and victim makes a significant difference. In addition to physical
assault, domestic violence also includes verbal, emotional, psychological, and
sexual abuse. In this area, violence against men is frequently not taken
seriously, is underreported, and lacks official legal status. Regrettably, this
is mostly a product of societal views and perceptions regarding the genders of
the victim and the offender.[2]
Men are typically seen as the violent ones, but even if this may be true
for some of them, it avoids the seriousness that should be addressed at male
victims of violence. In comparison to other nations, India has the highest rate
of violence against men.
II.
GENDER BIASED LAWS AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
IN INDIA
Section 498 A under the IPC- Whoever,
being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such
woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may
extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine.
Explanation.—For
the purpose of this section, “cruelty” means—
(a) any wilful conduct
which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or
to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or
physical) of the woman; or
(b) harassment of the
woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person
related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable
security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to
meet such demand.[3]
Section 498 A was introduced in Indian Penal Code, 1860 in the year 1983
so as to protect women against any kind of cruelty by her husband or her
in-laws, more specifically against domestic violence. In the year 2005 ,
Domestic Violence Act, 2005 came into existence which provides remedy under the
civil law to protect woman from domestic violence occurring within the family.
The law was made for the welfare of women , for her protection, to safeguard
her from the cruelty and harassment of her husband and her in-laws but it has
been observed that many a times women take undue advantage of the law and
misuse it for her own individual benefits and selfish purposes or to satisfy her
ego by harassing and accusing her husband on false claims.
According to above section, only a husband can be held liable for any kind
of cruelty to his wife. There is not even a single subsection or any provision
given in the statute that will make a wife too liable for domestic violence
against her husband. Physical or
psychological assault of any kind is a flagrant violation of human rights.
Domestic violence situations that go unreported and unspoken can ultimately
result in divorce, acrimonious arguments, separation, depression, and even
suicide. There are many false cases where women falsely accuse a men of rape or
domestic violence because of the biassed laws in the Indian Penal Statute that
favour women. The sad thing is that these biassed laws automatically assume
that a man can never be the victim. Women do not need to provide any kind of
evidence to back up their claims. The biassed laws assume that they are real
victims.
III.
STATISTICS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN IN INDIA
52.4% of males in India encounter
gender-based violence, according to a study of 1000 married men in Haryana’s
rural villages between the ages of 21 and 49. 51.5% of men reported having been
tortured or violently treated by their spouses or other close partners at some
point in their lives. 10.5% of men reported having been the victims of domestic
violence caused to them by their intimate partner or their wife in the past 12
months. Physical abuse is the second most frequent form of spousal or domestic
violence against men, followed by emotional abuse.
IV.
JUDICIAL REMARKS
In the case of Chandrabhan
v. State (2008), the Delhi High Court came to the conclusion that
"there is no iota of doubt that most of the complaints are filed in the
heat of the moment over trifling fights and ego clashes. It is also a matter of
common knowledge that in their tussle and ongoing hostility, the hapless
children are the worst victims".[4]
In the year 2005, the Supreme Court of
India in the case of Sushil Kumar Sharma vs Union of India
observed that complaints being filed under the Section 498 A of IPC were being
filed on false claims arising out of personal ego and also stated that "by
misuse of the provision, a new terrorism can be unleashed"[5]
Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rohinton F. Nariman of the Supreme
Court invalidated the phrase “mature male person” from Section 2(q) of the
Domestic Violence Act, 2016, in 2016. According to the ruling, “We, therefore,
strike down the words ‘adult male’ before the word ‘person’ in Section 2(q), as
these words allow discrimination between persons treated alike, and far from
being in tune with, are contradictory to the object sought to be accomplished
by the 2005 Act.” Women will now be considered offenders going forward.
It was made explicit In 2017 by a ruling in the Mohammed Zakir case
from the Karnataka court. The Court stated: “If the word ‘adult male’ is
deleted from the aforementioned sub-section, it would appear that any
individual, male or female, who feels wronged and claims that the Act’s
provisions have been violated, may invoke the provisions under the Act. In
light of this, the petitioner’s suit could not have been dismissed on the
grounds that the Act could only apply to women and does not consider provisions
for men.
Case of
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard
a. There was a defamation trial between
Johnny Depp( plaintiff in the case) who filed a defamation suit against his ex
wife Amber Heard (defendant in the case) alleging her for three counts of defamation
and thereby seeking USD 50 million as damages. The trial began on 11th
April 2022 and ended on 1st June 2022 in Fairfax County, Virginia.
b. Amber Heard filed a counterclaim
against Johnny Depp for USD 100 million, alleging three counts of defamation
based on claims made by Johnny Depp’s lawyer.
c. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard were
married for 3 years, from 2015 to 2017. Amber Heard wrote an op-ed for The
Washington Post in December 2018, wherein she accused her ex-husband Johnny
Depp of intimate partner violence without even naming him. Johnny Depp rejected
the charges made by Amber Heard and even blamed the op-ed for ruining his
reputation and career, as well as forcing him to lose a lot of money. In
return, Amber Heard sued Johnny Depp for the allegations made by his lawyer,
Adam Waldman, to the Daily Mail, which were printed in April 2020.
d. The jury granted Depp $10 million in
compensation damages and $5 million in punitive damages after concluding that
the title and the two allegations in Heard’s op-ed were untrue, defamed Johnny
Depp, and were written with genuine malice. The punitive damages were reduced
to $350,000 due to a cap imposed by Virginia state law.
e. Although the jury found that
Waldman’s first and third statements were not defamatory, they also found that
Waldman’s second remark was false, defamatory, and made with malice. As a
result, the jury awarded Heard $2 million in compensatory damages and no
punitive damages.
f. As per Amber Heard’s spokesman and
her lawyer, she intends to appeal the decision.
Woman should never take excessive
advantage of the privileges available to them. Not only domestic violence but
woman do file false cases under various other sections , most commonly section
375 accusing a man for rape. There is a lot of domestic violence that goes
against mental, emotional, physical even rape. Men stay silent cause neither
law supports them nor does society.
V.
CONCEPT OF IPV- INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE
Domestic abuse committed by a current or former spouse or partner
against the other spouse or partner in an intimate relationship is known as
intimate partner violence (IPV). Abuse that is physical, verbal, emotional,
financial, or sexual is just one example of IPV. IPV is described as “any
activity inside an intimate connection that causes individuals in the
relationship physical, psychological, or sexual harm, including acts of
physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse, and controlling
behavior’s” by the World Health Organization (WHO). IPV is often known as partner
or marital abuse or just “battery.”
Intimate terrorism, coercive controlling violence, or simply coercive
control are terms used to describe the most extreme types of IPV. In such
circumstances, one partner is consistently violent and in charge. Intimate
terrorism resistance, also known as violent resistance, is typically carried
out by women and is an act of self-defense.[6]
i.
Types of IPV
a) Physical Violence
b) Sexual Violence
c) Stalking
a) Physical Violence
Physical violence is the deliberate use of physical force that has the
potential to result in death, disfigurement, injury, or other negative
outcomes. However, below mentioned list is not exhaustive:
·
The
act of choking, shaking, violently pulling one’s hair, slapping, punching,
pounding, or burning
·
Using
a weapon, putting others under pressure or using one’s body, size, or strength
against them
·
Physical
violence also includes pressuring others into carrying out any of the
aforementioned deeds. (CDC, 2016)
According to research, psychological abuse and, in one-third to one-half
of instances, sexual abuse, are frequently present alongside physical violence
(Heise & Garcia-Moreno, 2002). Usually, there is more than one occurrence
of the violence. According to the National Violence Against Women Survey
(NVAWS), men who were assaulted experienced 4.4 assaults on average each year.
b) Sexual Violence
There are five forms of sexual assault, and each one of them constitutes
sexual assault, whether it is attempted or carried out. Additionally, none of
these acts take place with the victim’s knowledge or permission, even in
situations where the victim is too drunk to provide consent (such as when they
are incapacitated, unconscious, or unaware) as a result of their conscious or
unconscious use of alcohol or drugs (CDC, 2016).
Victim penetration or rape: This includes successful or unsuccessful forceful or
unintentional vaginal, oral, or anal insertions that are aided by alcohol or
drugs. Forced penetration happens when the offender threatens to hurt the
victim physically or uses physical force against them.
Victim was used to attack another person: This includes instances where the
victim was compelled to sexually penetrate a perpetrator or another person without
their consent, whether successful or unsuccessful, forced, or assisted by
alcohol or drugs.
Unwelcome physical invasion without physical pressure: This includes instances where the
victim was coerced—verbally, physically, or otherwise—or subjected to abuse of
power before being penetrated.
Undesirable sexual activity: This includes forcing the victim to touch the offender
without their agreement on their genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh,
or buttocks, either directly or through their clothing.
Unwelcome non-contact sexual encounters : This includes unauthorized,
non-physical sexual encounters that take place without the victim’s consent.
Examples include sexual settings that are not desired (such as pornography),
verbal or physical harassment, threats of sexual violence against others, and
the unwelcome filming, capturing, or sharing of images of another person’s
private parts (CDC, 2016).A that is both sexual and physical frequently
involves controlling actions. In the United States, over 1 in 4 men have ever
been the victim of touch sexual violence. About 71% of male victims of
completed or attempted rapes were victimized for the first time before the age
of 25.
Made to
Penetrate vs. Rape (MTP)
MTP is a type of sexual violence that some professionals compare to
rape. Rape and MTP are measured separately by the CDC, which sees them as two
different types of violence with possibly different outcomes. Given the impact
of different forms of violence on American lives, it is critical to comprehend
the distinction in order to spread awareness. Rape refers to any completed or
intended undesirable penetration of the victim using physical force or when the
victim was too inebriated, high, or drugged (e.g., incapacitated, lack of
consciousness, or unaware) from their voluntary or involuntary use of alcohol
or drugs (e.g., incapacitation, lack of awareness).
Being made to, or there was an attempt to, sexually penetrate someone
without consent due to physical force, or when the victim is unable to consent
because they are too inebriated, high, or drugged (e.g., incapacitated, lack
consciousness, or unaware), as a result of their either voluntary or
involuntary use of alcohol or drugs (e.g., incapacitation, lack of awareness). Typically,
victims are familiar with the perpetrators. Male victims of stalking and sexual
assault were most frequently targeted by a current or former intimate partner
or friend. Depending on the sort of violence, the perpetrator’s sex is
involved. In contrast to other kinds of SV, such as MTP and sexual coercion
against males, rape and unwanted sexual contact against male victims were
typically committed by other men, according to NISVS. Stalking of males is a
crime committed by both genders. Most intimate relationship violence against
men was committed by women.
Ø Only men were involved in 87% of
recorded cases of completed or attempted rape involving male victims.
Ø Male MTP victims reported solely
female attackers in 79% of cases.
Ø Only female offenders were identified
by 82% of male sexual coercion victims.
Ø Only female offenders were identified
by 53% of male offenders of unwanted sexual contact.
Ø Male abusers were the only ones named
by 48% of male victims of lifetime non-contact unwanted sexual experiences.
Ø Only female stalkers were used in 46%
of cases involving male victims.
Ø Men were the only ones stalking 43%
of the male victims.
Ø Eight percent of male victims said
they had been stalked by both male and female offenders.
c) Stalking
Stalking is a pattern of unwanted attention and contact that occurs
repeatedly and makes a person fear for their own safety or the safety of
another person (eg, family member or friend). Examples include making frequent,
undesired phone calls, email messages, or texts; leaving cards, letters,
floral, or other items where the target does not want them; spying; approaching
or appearing in places where the target does not wish to see them; sneaking
into the target’s home or car; causing damage to the target’s personal
property; threatening or harming the target’s pet; and threatening to
physically harm the target (CDC, 2016).
In the modern world, stalkers have access to a wide range of computers
and technology, including the Internet, GPS systems, cell phones, and tiny
digital cameras. General stalking laws have so far not kept up with any of
these new technology in many states. But in Kentucky, new legislation in 2009
made cyberstalking illegal (KRS 508.130–150). The Kentucky Attorney General’s
office and this link both have additional information on how to recognize and
stop cyberstalking.
d) Psychological
Violence
The use of language and nonverbal cues with the aim of psychologically
or emotionally harming another person or trying to impose control over that
person is known as psychological aggression. Examples of psychological
hostility include:
Ø Aggressive behaviour (eg,
name-calling, humiliating)
Ø Control by coercion (eg, limiting
access to transportation, money, friends, and family; excessive monitoring of
whereabouts)
Ø Threats of sexual or physical
assault; restrictions on reproductive or sexual health
Ø Vulnerability of the victim being
abused (eg, immigration status, disability)
Ø Exploitation of the offender’s
weakness
Ø Presenting the victim with false
information with the aim of making them question their own recollection or
perspective (e.g., mind games) (CDC, 2016).
All of these forms of violence are seen to include an underlying element
of coercive control and intimidation on the part of the abusive partner. The
victim’s perception that failure to comply with the abusive partner’s demands
would result in harm to the victim, the victim’s children, or other individuals
or things the victim values about is the basis for the abusive partner’s
capacity to exert control over the victim. It might be challenging for the
victim to escape the cycle of abuse because the perpetrator frequently
alternates between threats and gestures of kindness.
Research has repeatedly proven that emotional abuse can have a more
severe and detrimental impact than physical violence, as evidenced by the World
Health Organization survey conducted in 10 countries. In the past 12 months,
between 20% and 75% of women worldwide who were questioned reported
experiencing emotional abuse (WHO, 2005)
VI.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN IN INDIA
Our society is such where any
crime against women becomes very crucial and important but crime against men
many a times goes unnoticeable because there always persist a social stigma
that between a men and women, a women is physically not as strong as that of men,
she’s much more emotional than man, she can never initiate a criminal activity
even if a men accuses her of the same. It is agreeable to an extent with the
above said fact that majority woman are physically less stronger than that of
man but as discussed earlier that domestic violence isn’t always physical, it
can be “ Emotional Violence “ or “ Psychological Violence” as well where
physical strength doesn’t appears in the frame. Also about being emotional, man
too have emotions, they too have a life. Without emotions only a father does
not loves his child unconditionally, a man does not try to keep his family happy by fulfilling all the
wishes & desires of his respective family and many more instances, but the
fact which follows here is if a woman has emotions, a man too has, there is no
less or more in that. The society should accept the fact that men can also be
the sufferer and woman can be the aggressor in a case. [8]
Moreover when a wife abuses her husband it can be emotional ,
psychological violence too wherein a woman may even restrict her husband from expressing
his own views or prevent him from explaining about his self condition in front
of his family, friends or other’s and harasses him mentally, there a woman not
only covers Section 498 A for domestic violence but also breaches and violates
the fundamental right of Freedom of Speech and Expression of her husband guaranteed
under Article 19 alongwith Article 21 which deals with the Protection of
Personal Life and Liberty of the Indian Constitution. Domestic violence against
man is a topic which doesn’t get enough attention. Even if the number of man
who suffer are less, domestic violence against them is still a crime. majority
of man suffer violence from intimate partner whether current or former spouses.
Why
majority cases of domestic violence against men go unreported in India?
A men does not come out with his problems or
speak about any violence committed against him because of the fear and judgmental
thinking of the society. He believes that if he does, how will society react?
Will they even concede that he suffered the most during his marriage? Can he be
a victim? There is also a so called concept of “Mardaangi,” which is quite
common in our society. This idea holds that men are always regarded as being
superior to women and will always be far more emotionally and physically robust
than women. This word also creates a social stigma in the society that “mard
ko kabhi dard nahi hota” which is absolutely false, a men is also a human
being, how can’t he face hurt? He cannot always act to be stronger in the
society, society expects a men to possess some supreme skill of never
experiencing pain. No matter what, a man in a society is always assumed to be
tough and capable of handling any difficulties or pain without shedding any
tears.
Ultimately domestic violence on either man or woman is wrong but people
are more inclined towards the fact that woman only faces domestic violence
which is not the case always it can also be with men. Domestic violence not
only means physical violence its also means any sort of verbal abusive violence
and both are wrong. Many man faces that but they are not either aware about their rights or they are scared of the judgmental
mentality of society. When a girl abuses or acts so controlling on her partner
people find it feminism and say stuff like “you go girl”, “your life your
choice” but if genders were reversed people find it disturbing and feel outraged
and this is surely the current situation of society.
When we talk about society, the term is
not only confined towards the people living in our neighborhood or in our
surrounding groups, it does necessarily includes the officials as well. Many a
times it has been observed that when a men and a women goes to police station
for lodging a complaint, police tends to accept the complaint of women first
than that of man, because Law is more sensitive towards woman in cases of
harassment, torture or domestic violence. Sometimes police officers not only lodges
false complaint of woman against men but also makes derogatory remarks against him
calling him “feeble” or “effimenate” that he could not take care of himself nor
his wife, which is highly disturbing and extremely wrong. It often happens that
false complaints of woman are taken and without any thorough investigation, the
men is taken into custody and is accused of crime. Many a times it also happens
that police officers do not even take complaint of men against woman for
domestic violence because they also believe that men is always the one who hits
or harasses the woman and not woman. These kind of mentality leads to the
issues of depression and frustration among the men because even after being
truthful and innocent they are proved to be guilty not by the court but by the
society itself, many a times this situation also leads to suicide among men
because they feel that they aren’t being heard, they blame themselves for being
a man in such situations and to stop this, poor mentality of the society has to be
changed.
VII.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN AT GLOBAL LEVEL
England & Wales
In England and Wales, the 1995 “Home Office Research Study 191” polled
10,844 persons between the ages of 16 and 59 (5,886 women and 4,958 men); it
found that 4.2% of men had experienced intimate partner violence in the year
before the survey. This proportion climbed to 14.9% of males across their
lifetimes. 3.25 million of the 6.6 million intimate partner violence
occurrences that occurred in 1995 had male victims, and 1 million of those
incidents led to injuries.
Since 2004, additional surveys that are appended to the yearly Home
Office Crime in England and Wales reports keep more thorough annual data.
Compared to regular crime surveys, these reports consistently show much higher
rates of male and female intimate relationship abuse victims. A high of 4.5% in
2007/2008 and a low of 3.1% in 2009/2010 are the statistics for male victims.
According to a 2005 National Crime Council report, in the Republic of
Ireland, 15% of women and 6% of men, or around 213,000 women and 88,000 men,
had experienced severe intimate partner abuse in their lives. 2,525 male
victims of domestic violence were recorded by police in Northern Ireland in
2012, up 259 occurrences from 2011. Males made up 19.3% of Scotland’s reported
domestic abuse victims in 2018.[9]
USA
In the United States, the National Violence Against Women Survey
conducted by the Department of Justice in 2000 polled 16,000 people (8,000 men
and 8,000 women), and it found that 7.4% of men had experienced physical
assault by a spouse, cohabitant, boyfriend/girlfriend, or date at some point in
their lives. Additionally, 834,732 males, or 0.9% of men, said they had
experienced domestic abuse in the previous year. According to the Canadian
General Social Survey of 2000, 549,000 males, or 7% of men, reported experiencing
intimate partner abuse between 1994 and 1999.
In 2005, a new Canadian General Social Survey revealed that 546,000
males, or 6% of men, had been the victims of intimate partner abuse between the
years 2000 and 2005. According to data on campus rape, men are sexually
assaulted 1 in 7 times at American campuses, according to research from the
National Institute of Mental Health and Ms. Magazine.
From a sample of 16,000 American adults, the American Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) discovered in 2013 that 26% of homosexual
men, 37.3% of bisexual men, and 29% of heterosexual men had experienced
intimate partner violence, as opposed to 43.8% of lesbians, 61.1% of bisexual
women, and 35% of heterosexual women. The data reveals that sexual abuse and
stalking by an intimate partner exact a significant toll on lesbians, gay men,
and bisexuals in this country, according to CDC Director Tom Frieden.[10]
New Zealand
In New Zealand, the 21 year Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development
Study, which included 1,037 participants, reported that 27% of women and 34% of
men had experienced physical abuse at the hands of a partner, and that 37% of
women and 22% of men had committed intimate partner violence themselves. A 2009
study from the Journal of Applied Social Psychology also looked at samples of
university students in New Zealand (35 female and 27 male) (34 female, 27
male), and prisoners (15 female, 24 male) revealed that 16.7% of male
respondents said they had been physically abused (12.9% of students and 15.4%
of prisoners), while 29.5% said they had engaged in bidirectional IPV violence
(both partners commit IPV; 14.5% of students and 51.3% of prisoners reported
this).
Intimate partner violence was researched by 13,601 students from 32
countries in the 2006 International Dating Violence Study, which concluded that
“approximately one-quarter of both male and female students had physically
assaulted a partner during that year.” According to the data, 7.6% of males had
experienced “serious assault” and 24.4% had experienced “minor intimate partner
violence.” Two Swedish studies published in 2012 revealed that men experienced
IPV at rates comparable to those of women: 8% per year for one study and 11%
per year for the other.
VIII.
NEED OF HOUR: GENDER NEUTRAL LAWS IN INDIA AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Domestic violence laws in India are such which exclusively provides
protection to women; they do not protect men. It creates a misleading
impression that men are always capable of being the aggressor and never the
victim. The prevalence of domestic violence against men is steadily rising.
Therefore, special clauses and amendments in the present legislations are
needed to create gender-neutral laws that will aid male victims of domestic
violence in obtaining redress and a sentence for the offender irrespective of
gender.
Gender equality and fundamental human rights belong to both men and women,
there’s no more or less between them. In the present time, when men are falsely
accused of rape, domestic violence, and sexual assault, gender-neutral laws are
critically needed. Society has to understand and accept the fact that men can
also be the victims of domestic violence and are not necessarily the perpetrators,
despite the term’s connotations to the contrary.
IX.
CONCLUSION
This paper does not tend to say that woman always files false cases or every
time take undue advantage of law but sometimes they do, they do underestimate
the provisions of Law provided to them for their protection, just for the sake
of their own benefit and their selfish gains. Under Article 15(3) of the
Constitution, exceptions were permitted, and they are now the norm! Governments
conveniently ignore Article 14 of the Constitution, Article 15(1), and Article
21 of the Constitution with regard to men as a result, and as a result, it has
become customary to allow women to abuse men while highlighting men's violence
against women and enacting discriminatory and biassed laws against men.
The government needs to acknowledge that men make up a significant
portion of society but are underrepresented in Indian law. Only the NCW and WCD
Ministry, who are focused on women, are asked for their opinions when
gender-based legislation is being discussed or adopted, but men's concerns and
difficulties are disregarded. There is an urgent need for gender-neutral
legislation, a constitutional authority, or a platform to address the issues
that males face.
If these straightforward, yet incredibly significant, and reasonable
steps are taken, they will two significant effects: institutional recognition
of domestic violence against males and open legislative support. As a result,
males will have the confidence to come out when they are assaulted. There will
be more complaints, and more reliable and accurate statistical information will
be available for this area's future research.
Women should never misuse the
power of being one. Women should understand that Laws made for their welfare or
protection shall be used as a shield and not as a sword or assassin’s weapon.
X.
REFERENCES
v Domestic violence against men in
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v Domestic Violence Against Men
December 28, 2022 FindLaw Staff,|
Reviewed by Nicole Prebeck, Esq. available online at https://www.findlaw.com/family/domestic-violence/domestic-violence-against-men.html
v A Cross-sectional Study of
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Singh Malik and Anuradha Nadda, Ncbi available online at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6437789/
v Intimate Partner Violence, Sexual
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[1] Domestic
violence against men, published on Healthdirect, article available online at https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.healthdirect.gov.au/amp/article/domestic-violence-against-men accessed on 26th December 2022.
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