Over five years after his marriage, 30-year-old Rakesh (name changed), who works at a public sector undertaking in Noida, has been accused by his wife of harassing her for dowry and having unnatural sex with her. His mother, sister and father have also been made co-accused in the case.
Mr. Rakesh, who has a four-year-old daughter from the marriage, claimed that his wife did not want to stay with her in-laws and thus slapped him and his family with grave charges to have her way. Running from pillar to post for justice, he feared he would lose his job too if arrested.
Marital rape
He was part of a rather unusual gathering of scores of men, mostly in their early 30s, at Leisure Valley Park in Sector 29 here on Sunday morning, seeking “gender-neutral” laws and creation of awareness through a “car and motorcycle” rally on alleged misuse of laws by women.
The rally was organised by Save Family Foundation (SFF) and Men Welfare Trust (MWT), both registered NGOs under the aegis of Save Indian Family (SIF) movement, which stand for the rights of men. The theme of this year’s awareness drive was “demystifying feminist myths about marital rape”, aimed at “spreading awareness and truth” on a much-debated topic across all sections of society.
‘Crime has no gender’
Amit Lakhani, founder president, MWT, said there were enough laws to protect the interests of a woman, but none to safeguard the man. Saying that he strongly opposed criminalisation of martial rape, Mr. Lakhani said he did not deny existence of sexual violence in marriage, but pointed out that it could happen to both man and woman.
“Crime has no gender. A woman is not always the victim, she can also be the perpetrator. Laws should be just and gender-neutral,” said Mr. Lakhani. He demanded that those who abuse the law should also be punished.
He said that males also suffered in marriage, but there was no mechanism to redress their grievances. Mr. Lakhani claimed that a helpline run by SIF received over 5,000 calls from males every month and almost 24% of the around 90,000 suicides every year were committed by men due to domestic and martial issues.
‘Ministry for men’
Barkha Trehan, a men’s rights activist, also turned up in support of the cause and demanded a separate ministry for the welfare of men. “We have Ministries for the welfare of children, women and even animals, but nothing for men. Almost 80% of the tax payers are men, but there is no mechanism in place to listen to their grievances. Getting a false case registered is as easy as getting a pizza delivered. Mere verbal allegations are enough. Even if a man is acquitted in the end, he faces social ignominy and mental stress,” said Ms. Trehan. She said that there were 49 laws to protect women but none for men.
The rally of approximately 50 vehicles left at 11 a.m. and concluded at India Gate.
