- 14th April, 2021
Discrimination
against weaker section of society
According to the Cambridge Dictionary,
“Discrimination” means: treating a person or particular group of people differently, especially in
a worse way
from the way in which you treat other people, because
of their skin colour, sex, sexuality, etc.
Weaker society in India
generally includes the group of people who are vulnerable to discrimination and
injustice, or are concentrated on development context and lag behind in various
developmental parameters like health, education, etc. They are majorly and
commonly marginalized in the following categories i.e. Women, Children, Senior Citizens
etc.
This blog enlightens that weaker section
of the society which has been put into the dark room silently, locked, far from
the reach of protection of their rights and hence Justice through it. The part
of society is officially known as “masculine” i.e. Men. This part of society,
sadly, may never be taken weak due to the history in relation to the promotion
of Patriarchy (which is not only promoted by male segment but other side too),
has and is becoming one silently despite Article 15 (1) of the Indian Constitution.
Where Article 15 (1) lays down “No discrimination against any citizen on ground of religion, caste, sex etc.”, Comes with a positive discrimination under Article 15 (3) regarding state to make special provisions for the other weaker section of society i.e. women and children. Not only special legislatures for women and children have been made but transgender, senior citizens, other minorities are also protected through the virtue of special provisions of protection under law. Despite Article 14, we had to come up with the explanations of Article 15 (1) followed by the exception of 15 (3). This exception which has become the rule in the country to bring equality among the weaker section of society has been silently kicking out the voice of male section of the society in demand to at least have the provisions which protect them from the crimes, which are meant to be gender neutral but aren’t.
To understand how exception has
become the rule in Indian Legislature, here are list of some Acts, Cases, and
other aspects that enlighten how a society termed as masculine became weaker
section of society silently. The objective is not to take down the following
legislatures but to understand the simplicity of the sentences that there is a
difference between poor execution of law and having no law to protect from
injustice, if counter argument sticks to the fact these legislatures are important
to retain because they face umpteen discrimination and crime.
· Political participation of women- To boost the participation of women in the parliament, Women's Reservation Bill was introduced in the both houses of the parliament, (however it has not been passed yet and still pending in the house) which proposes to amend the Constitution of India to reserve 33 percentage of the seats in the lower house of the parliament i.e. Lok Sabha, and in all state legislative assemblies for women. Not only this but Article 243-D of Indian Constitution lays down the provision of Reservation of seats for women in Panchayat, Municipalities. Etc. It is often alleged that The Constituent Assembly had 389 representatives, just with number of fifteen members with women in it. And the same matter was taken into consideration in the field of Judiciary. The perspective which is usually missed herein the reservation clause is, is it justified to bring number of reservation to boost the participation of weaker section of the society? Will the reserved seats bring the worth to the seat? Recently, the Punjab Government passed the order for free bus travel of women within Punjab. A man is still expected to offer his seat to a woman if she is standing during the travel in the metro or bus. How far things like this bring equality and not discriminate against remaining sector of the society?
· Indian Penal Code, provisions like:-
1. Section 376: Rape
2. Section 304B: Dowry
Death
3. Importation of girls up to 21 years
4. Section 498A: Cruelty
against married women
5. Kidnapping and abduction of women
for different purposes
6. Section 509: Words,
gesture or act intend to outrage modesty of a women
7. Section 354: Outraging
modesty of women along w/ other provisions 354A, B, C, D.
Alarmingly, these are solely for the protection of women.
There is a whole chapter of crime against women under the penal law and every such
provision can used against males. A legislature and society where it is assumed
that no modesty of a man can be outraged, no men gets sexually harassed, raped,
dies due to mental and physical cruelty by wife or her relatives.
Men
don't get abuse physically or mentally?
The perspective of toxic masculinity among the society and
the things taught to males right from birth about the things which they are not
supposed to do which go against their manliness, not even allowed to openly cry
right away depicts and convey that males cannot be under financial dependence,
sexually harassed, raped.
The harsh truth is that our societies believe that only
women can be raped in addition to another stereotypical image which has been in
regards to male gender in society is that they always want sex and hence,
they are less likely to get affected by any kind of physical-mental abuse. These
stereotypical practices about masculinity have made men the silent victims of
sexual offences followed by other injustices. However, now most of the countries
have recognized that men can be raped too and criminalized rape against men too
but our society is adamant to admit the fact that men are becoming weaker
sections of the society. There’s gross miscarriage of Article 14 because men
don’t even have laws to protect them against gross offences as discussed above.
Are men the lottery boxes?
Even a man’s financial dependence upon his wife is not recognized as it is assumed that husband is Lord Kuber who has to maintain the whole big family (the parents, children, wife and even the divorced wife.)
This rule dismisses the prime factor that no matter how meagre the man earns goes, it does not matter, he has to beg and maintain his family or even the ill-intended wife. And when this wasn’t enough, men are disgraced, further made to feel heavier and helpless by having to be imprisoned on account of failure of so called ‘maintenance’.
Here also, the mode of imprisonment is not even the mode of
satisfaction but mode of enforcement. Here are some expectations of the
legislature from male society in terms of maintenance:
1. According to Hindu Adoptions & Maintenance Act:
a) Section 18: Wife
b) Section 19: Widowed
daughter
c) Section 20: Children
and aged parents
(Under the clause of children the girl is to be maintained till the marriage and male till 18 years of age.)
2. According to Domestic Violence Act:
a) Section 20: Maintenance
b) Section 12: Monetary Relief, not just by wife respectively, but also for women in live-in relationship
3. Criminal
Procedure Code, provisions of claiming maintenance u/S 125 for:
a) Wife (including
divorced wife even after mutual divorce)
b) Aged parents
c) Children
Legislation torture doesn’t end here.
The Evidence Act also lays down the provision of 114A and 114B according to which it is presumed
that in a prosecution for rape under clause a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h,
i, j, k, l, m, n of sub-section (2) of section 376 of the Indian Penal Code,
where the question is whether it was without the consent of the woman alleged
to have been raped and such woman states in her evidence before the court that
she did not consent, the court shall presume that she did not consent and in a
prosecution under Section 354, Section 354A, Section 354B, Section 354C,
Section 354D, Section 509, Section 509A or Section 509B of the Indian Penal
Code, 1860, when the question is whether a person has committed an offence
under such sections and if the victim deposes before the court that she has
been subjected to sexual harassment or her modesty was outraged or she was
disrobed or she was stalked or her privacy was intruded or she was sexually
harassed by any means, as the case may be, the court may, unless contrary is
proved, presume that such offence has been committed by that person,
respectively.
The misuse of such provisions has been in eyes of everyone for long yet no one raises their voice about same. If the male sector tries to resist any of it, the society turns their face against them by disbelieving and blaming the male sector that they must have done something wrong at first. Just like Justice Hima Kohli quoted that “We Have Not Reached the Point Where Men Need Protection from Women.”
Facts
and numbers on fake cases against men
Contrary to the statement of Justice Heema Kohli, it will be failure to heed upon the fact that Delhi Commission for Women themselves admitted that 53% of rape cases filed were false in the year of 2014.
-It will be failure to heed upon the fact the cases of 498A definitely arose from 49,237 from 2002 to 1,22,877 in 2014 where only 46,853 were tried out of which only 6,425 were convicted.
-When in May 2003, Justice JD Kapoor’s judgment suggested Section 498A, IPC to be made bailable and compoundable due to wide spread misuse, Women’s Rights Activists stormed Delhi High Court and broke chairs inside the court to protest. Number of arrests which were made under 498A in 2015 was 1,87,067.
-According to the facts mentioned in Documentary “Martyrs of Marriage” by Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj, every year about 22,000 married men commit suicide due to the family problem. In the real case mentioned by her in the documentary, Husband’s wife was found guilty of lying to the Court under Domestic Violence Act and was fined only Rs.10,000/-. After 8 years, his 498A trial is/was yet to begin.
-In an article published in Free Press Journal in 2014, Amit Lakhani executive member of Save Family Foundation, while addressing a press conference organised under the aegis of Forum Against Misuse of Section ‘498- A’, revealed that in every eight minutes a married man commits suicide in India due to alleged misuse of Section 498A of IPC against them, taking the toll to around 63,343 every year.
After years of legal turmoil, 82.5 percent of the total FIRs filed under Section 498- A was found false and still one man is arrested in every hour on the same grounds, said Lakhani.Where women slapping men, is "Women Empowerment" but men slapping women, is "Na Mard."
Any crime against women is always considered to be executed by the male segment, neither the law tires to listen their part the story nor the executive and not even the general public. Where woman is seen as innocent/accused till proven guilty but men is considered to be criminal even before a charge sheet is made out which continues to even after he’s found innocent and set free. Where man is found innocent in courts of law but is guilty forever in courts of Facebook and Twitter.
We need to understand this, that any offence or discrimination should not to be treated against a particular gender but against a particular "individual." We need to stop mocking the whole community and stand for the right ones and against the wrongdoer. We need to understand this, that any offence or discrimination should not to be treated against a particular gender but against a particular "individual." We need to stop mocking the whole community and stand for the right ones and against the wrongdoer.
If this is all not about pushing male segment into weaker section of society where they’re not just deprived of justice but not even allowed to the access of Natural Justice of living a peaceful and free life as only one single fake case against men by the women not just ruin their name, but their present, future, career and everything.
Real
life examples in recent
· Bois Locker Room
It was a case where screenshots of
'gang rape discussion' were leaked on social media. Everything started with a
Snapchat conversation with one boy suggesting an aggravated sexual assault plan
against a girl.This caught fire on Social Media
and people started making remarks against all men. However, later
investigations revealed that the boy in the Snapchat conversation named “Siddharth” was actually a girl who created a fake profile in the boy's name and all it was done to check
the reaction of the boy other hand and test his character.
Boy found victim- And right after few days
of this, one boy committed suicide
in apprehension of fake sexual assault allegations. Next day his
brother through social media made it clear how his brother received threats
after accusation made by the girl and even after trying to make everyone clear
that he’s innocent nobody believed him and had to end up with this.
· Actress-Businessman
Case
To understand the
gravity or plight we must refer to another real story, Actress Eesha Gupta had named and shamed the businessman in a series of
tweets and had accused the hotelier of "raping her with his eyes."
She shared his photo on social media
and wrote,“If
a woman like me can feel violated and unsafe in the county, then I don’t know
what girls around feel. Even with two securities around I felt getting
raped,” #rohitvig you’re a swine. He deserves to rot. Men like Rohit Vig, are the reason women don’t feel
safe anywhere. You around me with your eyes and stares were enough. RohitVig-
the man who thinks staring at a woman all night and making her uncomfortable is
ok. He didn’t touch me or say anything. But throughout stare. Not as a fan, not
cuss me an actor, but because am a woman. Where are we safe? Is being a woman a
curse! It’s not about being a celeb. What a normal girl has to go through?
How can a man be above the law? I was having dinner. He came much later n took
the table opposite us. Why is it ok for men to think it is okay?
· Jasleen Kaur Case
The case of Jasleen Kaur, an AamAadmi Party (AAP) member, who had accused a boy named
Saravjeet of harassment and molestation in 2015 following a dispute between the
two at a traffic signal in Delhi. Kaur took the case to Facebook to reveal her
side, posting Sarvajeet's picture with it, which attracted massive attention
inclusive a social media trial, during which he was labelled 'Delhi ka Darinda.'
Man found
victim- After 4 Years of Public Shaming
& Struggle, Saravjeet Singh was finally proven ‘Not Guilty’. While speaking to media houses, an
apology was sought from Goswami who had called him a 'pervert' on national television, adding
that now with the accusations proven false, the journalist should make amends
to restore his image.
· Rohtak sisters
Yet another highlighted story is of Rohtak
girls wherein two sisters Pooja and Aarti, were “allegedly”
harassed by two men who were reportedly returning on the same bus after an
army recruitment exam. One of the co-passengers had shot a video of the
incident which quickly spread over social media and news channels of India.The
girls were nicknamed "brave-hearts", Chief Minister of Haryana announced a
bravery reward
of Rs. 31,000 to each of the two sisters on the occasion of Republic
Day (2015). An infirm woman had asked these boys to buy her a bus ticket, at
the bus stop.
The sisters, who were already onboard, started an
argument that eventually turned into a heated fight, as the boys asked them to
vacate the allotted old woman's seat.After the incident, the Indian Army sources stated that Kuldeep
and Mohit who had passed the physical test, will not be permitted to appear for
the written exam.On 5 December 2014, some passengers from the day of
incident in the bus came forward to testify to the police.
They alleged that the whole quarrel was about the old
woman's seat being occupied by the girls, rather than teasing.Following these
turn of events, the girls voluntarily requested for a Polygraph and
Psychological Assessment Test (PAT) to prove their version of the incidents
were true.
However, the results came out 'unsatisfactory' for the complainant
girls, while the accused boys had passed the tests.Further, another man
reportedly came forward to claim of being victimized by these girls similarly
who had accused him of molestation. He eventually had to pay Rs 20,000 to have
these charges withdrawn.
Man found victim- Finally, after the
testimony of 40 witnesses that favored the accused boys, combined with the
results of the Polygraph and PAT, ACJM, Harish Goyal released the
three men on 3 March 2017 i.e. after 3 years.
The above cases are not just instances
or imaginary situations but these are real life incidents, rather misfortunate
events. And the sadder part is that these are not the only incidents, there are
hundreds or thousands or even lacs of such similar situations where men are
being ignored, harassed, abused and deprived of even Natural Justice.
In no way we mean that the existing
laws protecting the existing weaker sections of the society i.e. women or
others, are wrong. What we mean is that times change and we live in a dynamic
society. This feature makes it crucially necessary that we take steps and
create measures for the ignored section i.e. the men. If there cannot be extra
protective laws for them, then the least that must be done is to observe
equality as enshrined in Article 14 of Indian Constitution. As it was stated
above there is difference between poor execution of law and having no laws to
protect from injustice. Justice is
everybody's right and men too deserve it with full dignity.
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