Are we in Ken's Mojo Dojo Casa House in real life? Well, it looks like it, as Indian Men's Rights Activists have taken to burning their underwear to voice their grievances against what they perceive as biased laws and policies favoring women. They argue that such laws leave men vulnerable to emotional, material, and legal abuse.
The NCMA Indian Council for Men Affairs in Pune, Maharashtra, is now demanding that 'women-biased laws' be amended to gender-neutral laws to empower men. They also demand a separate civil body to sort out 'petty' issues in marriage rather than police and courts. This unique form of protest aims to draw attention to their cause, with men sending burned underwear to local politicians as a symbolic gesture of their dissatisfaction.
Why Men Are Setting Their Underwear Ablaze in Protest
The unconventional protest aims to express outrage over what NCMA believes are loopholes in the Indian legal framework that are biased towards women, as they state Indian laws to be "women-centric" with "anti-male policies".
The group, joined by many other men's rights activists from the country, argues that India's legal landscape is biased against men, as they cite laws like the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005, rape legalisation, and alimony and maintenance laws provisions that unfairly favour women.
The group argues these laws leave men vulnerable to emotional, mental, and legal abuse by women; therefore, NCMA calls for these laws to be made gender-neutral, ensuring equal protection for both genders.
The founder of the group, KF Jha, expressed discontent with the current legal landscape as he emphasised that "the existing legislation portrays men solely as perpetrators and women exclusively as victims." He told The Independent, "We don't think women have fewer rights. They have all these laws, and men don't."
Jha argues that alimony and maintenance laws are gender-neutral in theory but skew towards women when are to be practiced in society. Talking about laws for women, Jha opines: "I don’t think in India, as per our government, women have fewer rights. Women have all these laws which men don’t have," he adds, "Even in society, they get special treatment. They get freebies on buses, they have special compartments in metro trains." He also highlights how every political party's manifestos have policies and schemes benefiting women but not men.
Dismissing the statistics, Jha also claimed that "Indian family values" still persist in many households, meaning the vast majority of DV cases filed by women cannot possibly be true. He also claims that there are a considerable number of men victimised by false rape and dowry harassment accusations levelled at them by their vindictive partners who misuse the laws.
Jha also clarifies that NCMA's and his opinions don't oppose the "development or self-respect of women," but he adds the group is against "feminist ideology, which differentiates between men and women."
The group has some "simple" demands from the government, that are:
- Laws specifically designed to protect women should be amended and made gender-neutral.
- A separate 'civil body' to "sort out petty issues in marriages" rather than going to police and courts.
Statistics Suggest Crime Against Women Is Still Prevalent In Indian Society:
According to the National Crime Records Bureau Data of 2020, less than 8 percent of rape cases that were under investigation are examined and recorded as 'false accusations'.
The news site Mint also analysed data from the 2015-16 survey of the National Family Health Survey, that detailed 99 percent of sexual violence cases in India that went unreported. While the average Indian woman is 17 times more likely to face sexual violence from her husband than another person,. Many other studies highlight that one-third of the crimes against women are committed by their husbands in India.
Proving that women in India remain vulnerable to exploitation and crimes against them, studies observe an increase in crimes against women. As the data reads, there has been an increase of 66.4 percent in 2022 from 64.5 percent in 2021 per 1,00,000 women in the population of the country.
People Share Thoughts On The Protest:
A civil advocate at the District Court of Fatehpur stressed the state of men in legal cases where the 'burden of proof' is often upon men while the prosecutor doesn't have to prove their allegations. While the advocate acknowledges that women's condition in society must be given legal favours, she also opines that there should be a balance in the burden of proof in the courts shifted equally on applicants and that there must be high penalties and even jails for any false accusations. as the advocate says: "Women must indeed be given privileges for observing their social conditions, but the liability to these privileges must also be increased."
Atik Pansare, another practicing advocate in Family Court and District Court, opines, "There is a reason there are gander-biased laws formed in the first place." He acknowledges he is spectating many women falsely accusing and wrongfully demanding maintenance, however, the lawyer stated there are fewer such cases and comparatively far more cases of women still being undermined and abused. Forming an opinion from his own experience, Pansare believes: "While gender-neutral laws might seem like a 'need-of-the-hour', 'gender-biased' laws are women-centric to empower women, as we must observe, is the objective of these women-centric laws met, and are our women truly empowered?"
Ananya Tulankar, a research assistant and law clerk at High Court Bombay, Nagpur Bench, expressed her dispiritedness over the NMCA protest, saying: "It is shocking that this is happening while a political leader has been accused of sexual harassment of thousands of women." Ananya added, "I admit that there are exceptional cases wherein men are also harassed but taking away someone else's right is a poor way to secure rights for yourself. I also admit that laws are at times misused, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there's no exigency of them." Ananya also stated: "In my fervent opinion, the abovementioned incident, juxtaposed with countless others still occurring recurrently, is proof enough of the dire need for 'women-centric' laws'" She added, "This does not at all mean that men have no rights or should not be given protection from crimes of similar nature. It only means the activists must find a less egotistical and more realistic way of asking for men's rights."
Rudrani Gupta, a fellow journalist with SheThePeopleTV, acknowledges men indeed deserve legal help, and today they are getting it, while women too must stop misusing their rights as otherwise they would end up cancelling the entire foundation and struggle for women's empowerment, but she highlights many recent rulings of the court to favor men as far as maintenance and alimony are concerned. She also stated that heinous crimes like rape deteriorate the lives of women more than men.
Rudrani also opined: "Laws indeed should view every person as equal but so should society." Rudrani also underscored, "Despite being women-centric, laws don't address many issues women face. Like marital rape, imposition of sindoor or mangal sutra defines the duties of a woman who must serve her in-laws and bears the burden of proof in criminal cases like domestic violence. So whom actually is the law favouring? Patriarchy?" Rudrani concluded her stance with: "Considering women as the survivor every time and men as the perpetrator reflects the assumption of patriarchy. It doesn't consider men to be the ones who can be violated. So I believe strongly that the laws are not only colonial but also patriarchal."
What Can Be The True Pathway To 'Equality'?
The NCMA cherry-picks specific laws to portray men as victims. Financial support after divorce, for instance, often compensates for years of lost earning potential due to childcare and household responsibilities traditionally shouldered by women. Equality doesn't mean ignoring these socio-historical inequalities. NCMA's demands seem to be ignoring prevalent patriarchal attitudes and practices in society and misjudging the feminists' fight to dismantle it together and not divide it.
We, as a society, must rather focus on dismantling patriarchal structures that perpetuate violence and economic disadvantage for women. We can instead support initiatives that address the root causes of violence against women, including both toxic masculinity and traditional gender roles. And encourage and support women for financial security to build a society equal for both and unbiased for none, as unequal people cannot be treated alike, be it in legal or societal settings.
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