Do Indian laws protect men too against domestic abuse? Namaste views and welcome to yet another thought-provoking episode on Reemarkabl.com – A platform that promises to bring you stories of sense and not sensation. Our guest today is India’s respected Family courts Lawyer, Advocate Preeti Gada. She is Head of Litigation Department with Sudhir Shah & Associates, handling all court matters and Litigation Work, Documentation, Legal adviser and an Advocate on the Panel of Bank/ Society/Companies/ Trust/ Industries/ Re-development and Advising and Counseling for Matrimonial dispute/ Family settlement. She has also Published 2 Book on Women and Law in Gujarati by name “Kayda ni Kalmay” in 2013, with its 2nd edition reprinted in 2015. She has also Published her 2nd Book on topic of women and law by name “Lagan Vichhed na Kayada” in the year 2016.
There are reels written about Domestic violence against women, but think about it. There is the other section of the population, the men, who are also serious victims of domestic abuse and face gender bias crimes. As per reports this is certainly a global issue, wherein India is no exception. There have been reports that the Indian Penal Code Section 498A, which has been made to protect women against domestic violence has also been misused by some.
On international men’s day, it’s our honour to welcome accomplished Advocate Preeti Gada, to provide us with some valuable insights on this rarely addressed topic…Over to you advocate Preeti Gada. Thank you. Preeti Gada’s words… Thank you Reema, for inviting me on your channel, in respect of a very hot topic, about the mental torture upon the husband. Yes, this is a very good topic, which you have selected. I think so; there are very few people who have the guts to select this topic. Now, what is the actual ground reality? If you see the law related to the marriage, divorce, our laws are very old acts. Now if you can see the Hindu Marriage Act, which is enacted in year, 1955. In those eras, the situation was different. The women were not empowered, the women were not educated. Women were sufferers at the hands of your husbands, their families, everything. Then gradually, the laws that were enacted are all women-oriented. If you see the last two decades, women are more educated, they are more empowered. Now there is no field that women are not there or they haven’t achieved any heights. The husband and wife is the pillar or the two wheels of car and the institution of marriage. If both will run together, then only, the institution will work well. Now what has happened, women have become more empowered, they are earning more money and there is more laws to protect them.
What has happened is, the one wheel has gone ahead and the second wheel has remained there only. So the husbands, there is no law enacted for giving protection or the rights of the husbands, in respect of violence, abuse, mental, physical, anything. Now you will be surprised, there are statistics that I have come across, there are many husbands who have committed suicide. I am talking about 5 years ago. I have read a statistics at almost 64,000 men have committed suicide. They were facing matrimonial disputes. They were facing hardships in maintenance, harassment, torture, criminal allegations, criminal litigations. Here, I don’t want to say that women are not afflicted with cruelty, they are. They may be. But now we have to see the scenario, now the situation is this, that the women are empowered…..
