Some judges have asked Chief Justices to remove female staff, says Jaising

After former Supreme Court of India Judge, justice A. K. Ganguly is accused of sexually harassing an intern while during his tenure, some judges are believed to have approached CJI to remove female stuffs from the fear of being falsely implicated in sexual harassment / molestation cases. While I am enjoying this game, this is sadly inevitable the way our country is moving guided by feminism. I atleast will not be surprised if tomorrow male workers from different walks of life refuse to work with female stuffs.

Below is the original article …….

“I Know of a few judges who have asked their Chief Justices to consider removing all female employees and not appoint any female interns,” said Additional Solicitor General of India, Indira Jaising in her speech at the UN public lecture on the occasion of International Day to End Violence against Women, held at Teen Murti Bhawan Monday.

During the 30-minute lecture on the progress made in the year since the December 16 gangrape incident, Jaising discussed the various changes in the law and recent allegations of sexual assault against a retired Supreme Court judge and a senior journalist.

While giving details of the changes in the criminal law and the “significant achievement” and “episodic shift” through the redefinition of rape and sexual assault, the senior lawyer also delivered a scathing critique of the “institutional bias” in the substantive, procedural an methodological aspects of the law dealing with violence against women.

“In both these cases we see a failure of institutional responses,” said Jaising, adding that an employer was “under the obligation” to bring an offence related to sexual assault or harassment to the notice of the police on receiving information of such an offence.

When asked to explain the issue of responsibility of the employer, the lawyer also said there was a need to identify institutions which could be made responsible for implementing the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act.

“There is a need to identify the various points of attrition and guard against the inevitable backlash,” said Jaising, adding that the harassment and biases faced by women in reporting such incidents and then the trial process was the reason why so many victims chose to not prosecute in such cases. The ASG said the legal aid system also needed to be strengthened to provide better representation and support to the victims.

She also suggested that ‘crisis centres’ such as the ones created in hospitals for the victims of sexual assault, could be created in courts, police stations and other “attrition points” and the civil society could also contribute by setting up helplines and offering support.

Link to the original article: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/some-judges-have-asked-chief-justices-to-remove-female-staff-says-jaising/1199528/0

75 Years In The Making: Harvard Just Released Its Epic Study On What Men Need To Live A Happy Life

BY BRENT LAMBERT • APRIL 29, 2013 •

In 1938 Harvard University began following 268 male undergraduate students and kicked off the longest-running longitudinal studies of human development in history.  The study’s goal was to determine as best as possible what factors contribute most strongly to human flourishing.  The astonishing range of psychological, anthropological, and physical traits — ranging from personality type to IQ to drinking habits to family relationships to “hanging length of his scrotum” — indicates just how exhaustive and quantifiable the research data has become.  Recently, George Vaillant, who directed the study for more than three decades, published the study’s findings in the 2012 book Triumphs of Experience (Amazon) and the following is the book’s synopsis:

“At a time when many people around the world are living into their tenth decade, the longest longitudinal study of human development ever undertaken offers some welcome news for the new old age: our lives continue to evolve in our later years, and often become more fulfilling than before.  Begun in 1938, the Grant Study of Adult Development charted the physical and emotional health of over 200 men, starting with their undergraduate days.  The now-classic ‘Adaptation to Life’ reported on the men’s lives up to age 55 and helped us understand adult maturation.  Now George Vaillant follows the men into their nineties, documenting for the first time what it is like to flourish far beyond conventional retirement.  Reporting on all aspects of male life, including relationships, politics and religion, coping strategies, and alcohol use (its abuse being by far the greatest disruptor of health and happiness for the study’s subjects), ‘Triumphs of Experience’ shares a number of surprising findings.  For example, the people who do well in old age did not necessarily do so well in midlife, and vice versa.  While the study confirms that recovery from a lousy childhood is possible, memories of a happy childhood are a lifelong source of strength.  Marriages bring much more contentment after age 70, and physical aging after 80 is determined less by heredity than by habits formed prior to age 50.  The credit for growing old with grace and vitality, it seems, goes more to ourselves than to our stellar genetic makeup.”

As you can imagine, the study’s discoveries are bountiful, but the most significant finding of all is that “Alcoholism is a disorder of great destructive power.”  In fact, alcoholism is the single strongest cause of divorce between the Grant Study men and their wives.  Alcoholism was also found to be strongly coupled with neurosis and depression (which most often follows alcohol abuse, rather than preceding it).  Together with cigarette smoking, alcoholism proves to be the #1 greatest cause of morbidity and death.  And above a certain level, intelligence doesn’t prevent the damage.

With regards to income, there was no noticeable difference in maximum income earned by men with IQs in the 110-115 range vs. men with IQs above 150.  With regards to sex lives, one of the most fascinating discoveries is that aging liberals have way more sex.  Political ideology had no bearing on overall life satisfaction, but the most conservative men on average shut down their sex lives around age 68, while the most liberal men had healthy sex lives well into their 80s.  Vaillant writes, “I have consulted urologists about this, they have no idea why it might be so.”

In Triumphs of Experience, Vaillant raises a number of factors more often than others, but the one he refers to most often is the powerful correlation between the warmth of your relationships and your health and happiness in your later years.  In 2009, Vaillant’s insistance on the importance of this part of the data was challenged, so Vaillant returned to the data to be sure the finding merited such important focus.  Not only did Vaillant discover that his focus on warm relationships was warranted, he placed even more importance on this factor than he had previously.  Vallant notes that the 58 men who scored highest on the measurements of “warm relationships” (WR) earned an average of $141,000 a year more during their peak salaries (between ages 55-60) than the 31 men who scored the lowest in WR.  The high WR scorers were also 3-times more likely to have professional success worthy of inclusion in Who’s Who.

One of the most intriguing discoveries of the Grant Study was how significant men’s relationships with their mothers are in determining their well-being in life.  For instance, Business Insider writes: “Men who had ‘warm’ childhood relationships with their mothers took home $87,000 more per year than men whose mothers were uncaring.  Men who had poor childhood relationships with their mothers were much more likely to develop dementia when old.  Late in their professional lives, the men’s boyhood relationships with their mothers — but not their fathers — were associated with effectiveness at work.  On the other hand, warm childhood relations with fathers correlated with lower rates of adult anxiety, greater enjoyment on vacations, and increased ‘life satisfaction’ at age 75 — whereas the warmth of childhood relationships with mothers had no significant bearing on life satisfaction at 75.”  

In Vallant’s own words, the #1 most important finding from the Grant Study is this: “The seventy-five years and twenty million dollars expended on the Grant Study points to a straightforward five-word conclusion: Happiness is love.  Full stop.”  You can purchase your own copy of Triumphs of Experience by visiting Amazon.

 

Link to the original article: http://www.feelguide.com/2013/04/29/75-years-in-th-making-harvard-just-released-its-epic-study-on-what-men-require-to-live-a-happy-life/#!prettyPhoto

Harvard study says 70 percent of domestic violence is committed by women against men

Newscast Media HOUSTON—Three years ago I wrote an article based on a scientific study done by Harvard Medical School that revealed domestic violence was not as one-sided as the media often depicts it.  The article to this very day is the second most popular article I’ve written and is widely cited online and offline.

I have since discovered that the original article that was published on the Harvard Medical School Web site has been scrubbed, and my guess is that certain activist groups perhaps pressured the professors to remove it.  Most of these institutions depend on endowments and grants to function, so it is understandable how that may have been the cause of its removal.As you can see, if you click on this original hyperlink, the article is gone:

Original link from Harvard Medical School was here >> (pop-up)

However, fear not.  Even three years ago, my discernment and sound judgment enabled me to envisage something like that happening, so I took a screen-shot of the entire article, just in case it was taken down.  I am re-posting the article and will compress it into PDF format that way you are able to use it as a reference resource.  You will find the PDF at the very end of the article.

One thing about Newscast Media is that it does not receive any funds from sponsors and is self-funded, therefore we are not beholden to any entity, and have the liberty to publish content as we so wish. That’s what true independent and objective journalism exemplifies.

Another interesting aspect of the article is the comments section.  There are over 250 comments on this particular article, that you might find either amusing, or instructive at the very end. Below is the original article:

=======================================================

Original article by Joseph Earnest July 15, 2010

 Newscast Media HOUSTON—As the media flashes images and plays tapes of Mel Gibson screaming at his former lover, one has to wonder what the other side of the story is. It is obvious that Mel Gibson was set up by his girlfriend, whom he claims tried to extort him. While I don’t condone any kind of violence, I have to present to my reading audience some cold hard facts that the ‘mainstream media’ has chosen to ignore in relation to domestic violence.

Forensic expert  Arlo West said on Good Morning America, in regard to the tapes, “I believe these are professionally done. I think she had help. She clearly was speaking into what we call a large diaphragm microphone. Her voice is very well engineered. She sounds great. To authenticate a recording it must be an original.”

The information presented to you comes from investigative research of data produced by reputable organizations like Harvard Medical School, The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the American Psychiatric Association, just to mention a few.

The mainstream media seems to imply that men are the sole perpetrators of violence against women, but research proves otherwise.  A recent study by Harvard Medical School conducted a survey of 11,000 men and women and found that 50% of the violence was reciprocal. Both men and women also took responsibility for being equally violent in the heat of passion.

The Harvard study found that when violence was one-sided, meaning unprovoked, both men and the women themselves who took the study said 70% of the time it was the women who committed violence against the men.

See screenshot of study here>>  (pop-up)

 Another study by the American Psychiatric Association that backs the Harvard Medical School study was published by Joan Arehart-Treichel who says, “When it comes to non-reciprocal violence between intimate partners, women are more often the perpetrators.”   View comments (250)+plus

Click here to read or download entire PDF of the article (pop-up)

Gender neutral laws are the way forward as men’s rights too need attention

This is one the most sensible article published in a nationalized daily in recent times. When feminism wave seems to introduce a winds of change in India, it completely ignores the reality. A reality that with every bit of progress that feminism achieved, it has taken women clan backward actually. All that has been introduced, created more problems and dependencies for women.

Common men are not realizing the danger. Who still feel feminism is the way forward, look at these credible men, who had once advocated for “aabla naari” propaganda are now facing the sweet music that thousands on innocent men are facing, and they were happily turning a blind eye. Some of those stories along with stories of few eminent personalities are falsely accused are as below:

1. Retired  Justice of Supreme Court of India, Mr. A.K. Ganguly:

He had once supported saying that 498A should not be toned down. Read Here. Though what he said as an example w.r.t. 307 as most misused, is not true at all, you can verify that with NCRB data.

Now he is accused of harassing an intern while at the helm. Read Here.

2. Renowned Journalist Mr. Tarun Tejpal, Founder of Tehelka:

His magazine after Nirbhaya incident last December, published this sting operation called rapes will go on.

Now he is been accused of molesting / raping one of his colleagues in Goa and at present in custody.

3. AGM of an Nationalized Bank, Mr.  Lakshmikanth Chandana:

He was also falsely accused of Sexually harassing a lady manager of the same bank, but later CCTV footage proved the claim to be false.

4. A Senior Official of Northern Railways:

He was accused of sexually harassing an widow, after 15 years he was relived and lady was fined Rs. 5 lakh.

5. Ladies gang in Kolkata uses molestation trap for cash:

4 ladies in Kolkata uses molestation trap to falsely implicate innocent pedestrians for cash.

———————————————————————————————————————————–

Now the article as published in DNA India on the subject i.e. men’s rights too needs attention and gender neutral laws are the way forward.

Tired after a long day of work, Rajiv Sharma* came home and then was beaten by his wife.

Ironically, his wife then accused him of domestic violence. Desperate for help, he turned to men’s rights organisation Protect Indian Family — they helped him set up CCTV cameras in his house.

He gathered footage of abuse and produced it in court as evidence helping to clear his name from the domestic violence charge.

While women’s rights is a much discussed subject in the public forum, as it should be given the horrific and rising incidents of crimes against women, there exist a section of men who are abused but don’t have recourse to legal aid or emotional assistance. Protect Indian Family was thus formed to highlight the problems of men’s rights as well as help men like Sharma who have to face false charges. “Men’s rights is a subject that is completely ignored in India. It needs urgent attention,” says Amit Deshpande, the president of the support group championing the cause of men’s rights.

“I approached the group while I was going through a personal crisis… I was active during the movement headed by Anna Hazare. My blogs received media attention and that spurred me on to do much needed work in this area.”

The group is working to bring the Dowry Prohibition Act and other gender-biased laws such as the Domestic Violence Act and Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act under civil laws. It is also working for the passage of a bill called Saving Men from Intimate Terror Act (SMITA) in Parliament; the group drafted the document.

The group is also trying to make Section 498a of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) — under which a woman can put her husband or his family behind bars for treating her cruelly — bailable. It is demanding that the words ‘husband’ or ‘wife’ be replaced with ’spouse’ in all related laws to ensure equality in law for men and women.

Gender neutral laws have found acceptance in western countries but not in India, believes Deshpande. “Laws relating to sexual harassment at work have been made gender neutral in 77 countries, but not in India. In the west, the concept of shared parenting is accepted. However, in India, once a couple parts ways, the mother is given custody of the child. Cases relating to child custody last for years and many times young children are unable to recognise their fathers when they meet them.”

Protect Indian Family is often approached by men who say they are facing false charges of rape, dowry harassment or sexual harassment at the workplace.

“These men need emotional strength and we help them realise that they have to think about themselves first. We provide legal advice free of charge,” adds Deshpande “We don’t judge or question the people who approach us but encourage them to reveal the complete story. If a person has committed a crime, there will be evidence against him. We have a satyagraha-like ideology and will only help people to come out with the truth. Some people who come to us with their cases do not follow up probably because their cases are untrue.”

Deshpande and other activists are also often approached by men who are on the brink of suicide.

Some are even ready to sacrifice their lives for the cause of men’s rights. “We step in and explain that ending one’s life does not help the cause and is not a solution,” says Deshpande.

Deshpande, who has been working in this area for three years, believes the initial ridicule has given way to partial acceptance. “I have seen an increase in the number of people who approach us. Though politicians, legislators and officials support us individually, they are reluctant to work on this subject in their official capabilities as it is a politically-incorrect subject.”

Despite the challenges, the group has met with several successes. 

“In one case, a man was being charged with a false rape case by his girlfriend who was extorting money from him. He was on the brink of suicide when he approached us. We helped him get back his confidence. He recorded their telephone conversations and informed her that he would complain to the police if she continued to harass him. Later, we found that she was married and her husband was involved in plotting the extortion,” says Deshpande. In another case, a man was being falsely accused of sexual harassment at his workplace. Ultimately, the perpetrators accepted that the charges were fake. The man was from an army background and the women had disciplinary problems with him. When he confronted them and asked them to state their problem, they backed off as there were no real grievances.

It is a tragic fact of society that the abuse of women is rampant, but it is worthwhile to remember that men are also wronged. Protect Indian Family provides help to those men in need.

*Name changed on request

US man buys billboard ad to find love!

When it comes to making laws for women, feminists always look up to west, import their laws after due customization ensuring minimal responsibility for today’s empowered women. They are simply not bothered to think if these laws will do any good or address the actual problem.

In west, these laws cost havoc already, and people are marrying-divorcing like never before. A very common joke comes to my mind which I could not resist sharing:

In US, a wife rushes home shouting to her husband, “Honey honey come quickly, your kinds and my kinds are beating up our kids”.

Jokes apart, below news article is a reality in US. I do not want to comment if this is a good sign for human civilization, and leave it upto your own thought processes.

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New York: A middle-aged US man has taken his search for love to new heights by shelling out “a few thousand dollars” on a giant billboard, overlooking a busy Chicago expressway, to advertise his quest for a perfect soul mate.

“I’m Gordon! Let’s have dinner!” says the billboard overlooking the Stevenson Expressway.

It also displays his picture and the address of his own dating website, http://www.helpgordyfindlove.com.

Gordon Engle, a forty-something wealthy divorcee from Chicago, decided to spend money on the advertisement when he became disenchanted with online dating sites, ‘New York Daily News’ reported.

Engle, a self-made entrepreneur, said he was looking for love in all the wrong places, so he decided to try something new.

“You’ll spend several thousand on education, a quarter-million on a house, money on a car, but what’s your most important thing?” he asked.

“Your significant other. You’re going to go cheap on that?” he said.

“There’s not a lot of difference between a billboard and Match.com. I think [a billboard] shows a little more sincerity,” he told Chicago’s WGNtv.com.

Engle’s innovative idea seems to be paying off. So far, the billboard has fetched between 15 and 20 ‘solid’ applicants, he said.

However, gold diggers should stay away. Engle said he could spot them “within five minutes.”

 

 

link to original article: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/us-man-buys-billboard-ad-to-find-love-415868

Women put off divorce to benefit from Marriages Law (Amendment) Bill

Marriages Law (Amendment) Bill proposal of up to 50% share in husband’s property, including inheritance, sees 23% drop in divorce cases as women direct their lawyers to go slow on proceedings.

– Ravi Jadhav/DNA

Women are playing the waiting game when it comes to getting divorced.

Between January and August this year, divorce cases in Mumbai fell by 23% compared to the corresponding period last year.

Women have directed their lawyers to slow down proceedings till the Marriages Law (Amendment) Bill is passed in the Lok Sabha in the winter session of Parliament. The bill proposes that a woman should get up to 50% share from her husband’s inheritance and properties.

According to the Bandra family court, there were 2,826 divorces in the first eight months of last year. The figure fell to 2,157 in the same period this year.

Lawyerspeak
Divorce lawyer Mrunalini Deshmukh says a few of her female clients, especially those from affluent families, are adopting the wait-and-watch approach before rushing for a divorce. “They stand to gain a lot more from the husband’s property if the Bill in its current form becomes an Act,” she said. “You hurt the person where it hurts him the most, and money plays an important role.”

Shilpi Shamani, a divorce lawyer from Mumbai, said at least three of his female clients have requested him to go slow on the divorce process. “They want to see the fate of the Bill and act accordingly.”

The law says…
From 2009 to 2010, there was a 26.6% increase in divorces in the city. The numbers fell thereafter. There was a 14.9% decline in 2011 compared to 2010 and a further 4.5% drop in 2012 compared to 2011.

The trend coincides with a long drawn out debate on the Bill before it was passed by the Rajya Sabha on August 26. It’s scheduled to come up in the winter session of Lok Sabha.

The Bill has introduced a number of amendments to the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and the Special Marriage Act, 1954. The property clause in the Bill lays down that the husband stands a chance of losing up to 50% of his property to his wife. This includes his inherited and inheritable property, apart from what he has acquired after marriage.

Moreover, it allows divorce on grounds of irretrievable breakdown of marriage if the spouses have lived separately for three years. It will speed up the divorce process, thus avoiding years of litigation.

It also says that while the husband cannot oppose the divorce, the wife can, claiming financial hardships.

Men in a fix
Men seeking divorce are finding themselves in a fix. Goregaon resident Rajiv Aggarwal, 32, (name changed), who filed for divorce two months ago, is wishing he had done it earlier.

“I am stuck. The intimidation from my wife’s family was getting out of control, so I had to file for divorce. If the Bill is passed, men like me, who belong to the salaried class, will be doomed,” said Aggarwal, who separated from his wife barely a year after his marriage.

“There are several other laws to protect women in our country like section 498 (a) of the IPC which deals with dowry. It was slapped on me the day I filed the petition.”

Men’s rights groups have termed the Bill ‘biased’ and ‘anti-men’.

Activist Amit Deshpande said the Bill would hardly empower women as it is ‘wife-friendly’, not ‘women-friendly’. He says the Bill takes care of the wife but not the husband’s mother or sister.

“Divorces have slowed down, specially after talks of inclusion of the property clause in the Bill surfaced around December 2012.

So, if this Bill is cleared in the Lok Sabha in its current form, it could offer more returns for the same thing,” said Deshpande.

New Bill, new fears
Men like Deshpande fear that just like the anti-dowry law, the proposed law may be misused by women. Deshmukh, too, believes many women might misuse this Bill for financial gains.

However, women’s rights groups across the country have welcomed the Bill.

Also, experts believe there could be a massive jump in divorces once the Bill becomes an Act. According to a Save India Family Foundation survey, divorce cases increased in countries such as Australia and China after similar laws were passed.

Deshpande said, “India can face the same situation if this Bill is cleared. Only the payer (husband) wouldn’t know how much he will have to pay since prenuptial agreements are not legal in our country.”

Geeta Luthra, a divorce lawyer in Delhi, said she receives many queries about the Bill every day, both from men and women. She said there will be further amendments to the Bill, as it is “discriminatory to men” and also contradicts the Hindu Succession Act.

‘It’s not about property’
Ashima Das (name changed), an IT professional from Mumbai whose divorce case is pending in the Bandra family court, refuses to buy that the ‘property’ argument can be reason for divorce cases going down.

“It might matter to some, which is reflecting in the statistics. For me, it’s more important to get out of a bad marriage as soon as possible, instead of waiting for a Bill to turn into an Act,” she said.

Similarly, in Bangalore, getting out of a bad marriage supersedes the ‘property’ factor for most women, say lawyers.

Activists slam ‘one-sided’ Bill
Men’s rights groups have termed the Bill ‘biased’ and ‘anti-men’. Men’s rights activist Amit Deshpande said the Bill would hardly empower women as it is ‘wife-friendly’, not ‘women-friendly’. He says the Bill takes care of the wife, but not the mother or sister of the husband

Men fear that just like the anti-dowry law, the proposed law might also be misused by women. Lawyers, too, believe many women might misuse this Bill for financial gains.

 

 

link to original article: http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/1896919/report-women-put-off-divorce-to-benefit-from-marriages-law-amendment-bill

The unheard victims of violence

A victim of gay gang rape speaks out after years of living in fear of mockery and ostracism

Rape. Lately, this four letter word has been appearing with frightening regularity in the Indian media as gruesome cases, including the recent gang rape of a Mumbai photojournalist, get reported widely. These rape survivors try and pick up the pieces of their lives, deal with the physical and psychological consequences and fight for justice with stoic perseverance.

“But what happens when a gay person is subjected to a similar act of violence? Does anyone even care when his or her dignity is undermined? In most instances, when such a subject is ever broached, most often it is the victim who ends up becoming the butt of myriad jokes,” says an agitated Ajay Chander (name changed on request), a victim of gayrape.

As he narrates his harrowing tale, he observes, “Ever since the Delhi gang rape case, it seems as if rape cases have increased in a manifold way in India. But I want to bring to light the dilemma of many gay people who are subjected to similar brutality. I am a rape survivor.”

As Chander says these words out loud, he fervently hopes that this would help him to “move on and bury the ghosts of my past that came back to life after the recent discussions about rape”. He wants to be able to tackle those difficult memories, “For several years now, I have debated in my head about how to speak about this without falling into the many traps that have been laid out for people like me…How do I talk about it as a man without making it sound like I am elbowing myself into a space occupied by women survivors?”

Twelve years ago, Chander was gang raped and the men who did this to him went as far as videotaping their brutality in order to force him into silence. He says, “I was 18 years old at that time. I had hooked up withsomeone online and went to meet him at an agreed spot. From there, things just spiralled out of control in a bizarre manner. I do not want to go into the details.”

Visibly disturbed by the effort to even recall the incident, the young man stops to take a breath before he continues, “Every time a friend mentions gay porn, I shudder in panic wondering whether the video of my rape is circulating online.”

Although many years have passed and Chander is now a vocal gay rights activist, he doesn’t feel safe in the company of unknown men. He has also toned down the feminine appeal of his appearance so that he doesn’t attract undue attention. Elaborating on the demons he is battling, he says, “I have censored my body for survival. I fear for the safety of my queer friends. When the memories of my rape come back to me, I am scared of sleeping alone even in my own home. Despite feeling stressed I try to be cheerful for the sake of my mother. I don’t want to trouble her by looking gaunt or haunted”.

Chander has always desisted from sharing his traumas with anyone as he feels that if “I speak about this, people will forget the rape and blame me for hooking up with a stranger, especially another man”. He doesn’t want to deal with this blame as well as be confronted with the memories of the violence.

According to Chander, even when it happens to a man, rape is gendered violence. He recalls, “It happened to me because I was feminine. The men thought that I deserved it for not acting like a ‘man’. Sometimes rape is inflicted on men just to shame them; to, supposedly, insult them for their lack of masculinity. In whatever way it happens, it loops back to the question of gender.”

This is one of the reasons why he has become a staunch feminist. “I was one even before I was raped. I didn’t need this violent lesson to turn feminist. But if I was to live with it, I decided to make this episode of violence, which I now feel in my bones, an embodied site of my feminism. I have tried to make use of it to understand gendered violence, to understand myself and this world just a little bit more,” he explains.

Across India, there are gay and queer people like young Chander, who are waging lonely battles. Unfortunately, when it comes to institutional or legal support, they have little or no recourse. Rape laws are not applicable to male victims, even when they are homosexual. And although the Delhi High Court has decriminalised homosexuality by reading down the anti-sodomy law – Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code – the tag of homosexuality being an unnatural offence has not been removed from the statute of law. Only when the Supreme Court takes a stand on this issue canthe authorities act according to law.

Manvendra Singh, gay rights activist and the first Indian gay person from former royalty to come out of the closet, puts it this way, “It’s really tragic that the voices of gay rape victims remain unheard. But then, I can’t really blame them because most of the time they have not come out into the open about their sexual orientation, so they fear social ostracism. And, in a few cases, when they do gather courage to reach out to the cops to register an FIR, they are mostly mocked at and their complaints remain unregistered. We are fighting against this injustice meted out to them. But change will come only once we have a clear law that legalises homosexuality. Of course, the process of changing mindsets will take an even longer while.”

Until that happens, only the firm voices of men like Chander and Singh, keep up this fight for justice.

(Women’s Feature Service)

 

link to original article: http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/the-unheard-victims-of-violence/article5088311.ece

Sisters want father to pay Rs 4 crore per year

Well nothing to say here, 2 crore per year for studies in India. Imagine what they would demand after marriage, even Tata’s or Ambani’s would have a tough time 🙂

 

 

NEW DELHI: Two sisters have moved a trial court seeking a maintenance of over Rs four crore per year from their father to pursue studies and meet daily expenses, saying they had left home in 2010 due to harassment meted out by their parents.

The girls, native of Ludhiana in Punjab, filed their plea before metropolitan magistrate Monika Saroha, alleging that they were subjected to torture, harassment, beating and all kinds of abuse, when they were residing with their parents.

The younger sister, preparing for her civil service exam, told the judge that “they are students and they have no source of income to maintain them”.

The court has issued notice to the father seeking his response by January next year. In their plea, the girls told the court that the trouble began when the elder sister, a final year B. Com student, told her father, a shopkeeper, that she wanted to pursue MBA. The younger one, a first-year B. Com student, also wanted to study MBA. But their father threatened to withdraw both of them from college, the petition said. The counsel also said the parents should be prohibited from committing any act of domestic violence.

“The girl’s father should be stopped from repeating any acts of physical and mental abuse, sexual abuse, threatening, lodging false cases or sending friends to threaten them and their friends,” their advocate ShaanMohan said.

“In these facts and circumstances, this court may direct the respondents to pay the aggrieved (the two sisters) a sum of Rs 2,00,00,000 each,” the counsel added.

Earlier, the Delhi high court had provided them with police protection after they alleged that their family friends “attacked” them.

 

link to original article: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-09-20/delhi/42251661_1_com-student-delhi-high-court-father

Story of sexually harassed men

We, as a society always vocal about men sexually harassing women. Laws are made, police directed to tackle it strictly. There are news articles we get to read in this line, making us believe men are dogs, always out there on the streets with a single point agenda to rape / molest / abuse / sexually exploit women.

Article 1: Men are Like dogs, with Potential. This is what an empowered woman writer describes men in her book.

Article 2: Sexual harassment at work charge against senior Doordarshan official

Article 3: Air hostess alleges sexual exploitation

We all know in our society, there are certain women who do not hesitate to take think twice to indulge in sexual route for professional gains. However,  the problem starts when her expectations are not completely met, or guilt factor comes into play. As a women (abla naari) she then has the option to take legal recourse. Cry rape / sexual harassment. This has two benefit, both will land her in winning position. first and foremost, it would allow her to gain sympathy from everyone around, plus will help her to get her job done, they way she wants.

Now, have we ever tried to think about those men, who are sexually exploited by women, what they go though? Probably not, and rightly so, cause our legal system also does not believe this aspect till date. If you are a bollywood buff, you might have heard about a b-grade movie called, Chetna. You may watch that movie to get an idea.

However, Times of India, tried to figure it out, and continue reading to know about their observations …. Please read till the last paragraph, as that tells the reality.

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TOI on the changing tone and tenor of the sexual harassment in Nagpur

All those feminists, who had been screaming over the male atrocities, were shocked into silence reading the recent reports wherein a 42-year-old married woman Veera Kalra, a manager at a ready-made garments store, was booked for sexually harassing her 25-year-old employee Rahul Khandare. Rahul had recently committed suicide and left a five-page note, blaming Veera for sexually harassing him and being the main cause behind his frustration. And this is not a case in isolation. There are other cases, which have similar undertones. TOI tracks the phenomenon…

Case 1: Disha Chauhan (name changed), a 25-year-old girl working for a multinational herbal products company in the city, lured her new male colleague into a sexual relationship. After luring him into the relationship, she started urging him on to help her with getting more business and greater sales numbers, says our source from the police. He obliged and soon the girl proposed marriage to the lad. When he agreed to that as well, she told him to help in increasing her sales incentive from 35% to 50%. The guy invested heavily, bought the products in large numbers and even diverted many of his own clients to her. The girl achieved her target, married her senior and dumped the guy! Totally shocked, the guy initially went into acute depression, adds the source. Later, he finally gathered the courage to file a case at the Ajni Police Station for cheating and sexual harassment.

Case 2: Rachna Bise (name changed), a 21-year-old married woman, charged her maternal uncle with attempt to rape, after she went absconding with a male friend of hers and was found by the cops, whereas the uncle’s family has lodged a case of sexual harassment against her.

Male harassment is a reality
A senior cop (requesting anonymity) says: “Cases regarding women’s sexual harassment and molestation are reported in large numbers, but sexual harassment of men is also a reality. We get many complaints these days of this nature, but most of the times, the guys refrain from filing the FIR. Hence, the number of cases reported remains very less.”

Victims suffer psychologically
It’s a myth that sexual exploitation hurts women alone and men remain unscathed, says Investigating Officer R G Rajulwar, who is handling Disha Chauhan case. He adds, “In this particular case, the boy, who was exploited and later dumped by her, became a complete recluse and even contemplated suicide. It was the never ending support of his family and friends that made him come out of his shell. So, it is no longer true that exploitation happens on one particular sex alone.”

Butt of myriad jokes
The sad part is that while the psychological trauma faced by the sexually harassed people of both the sexes remains equal, the men who report such cases, have to face public ridicule. “When a girl files a case of sexual harassment, she gets people’s sympathy, but when a guy files such a complaint, he becomes the butt of myriad jokes. That is why even when they are being exploited blatantly by certain women, they prefer to bear it in silence, or may take an extreme step like Rahul Khandare, who committed suicide,” said another senior cop, on the condition of anonymity.

 

link to original article: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-06-25/man-woman/40146730_1_sexual-harassment-male-harassment-sexual-exploitation

Divorce makes life hell for men

Our lawmakers and also many of us believe that divorce makes the life of the wife hell, it becomes very difficult for her to survive after a divorce. So we are happily making laws after laws to give protection and security to women. But, have we ever tried to think how it affects the man? Is he always happy to get back his lost bachelorhood? We always tend to believe that he should be happy, but reality begs to differ according to an International study. Read on:

 

Divorced men have higher rates of mortality, substance abuse, depression, and lack of social support, a new study has revealed.

Authors Daniel S. Felix, PhD, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, W. David Robinson, PhD,Utah State University, Logan, and Kimberly J. Jarzynka, MD, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha demonstrate an urgent need to recognize and treat men’s divorce-related healthproblems in a provocative case study and review of the literature entitled ‘The Influence ofDivorce on Men’s Health.’

Divorce has been associated with a variety of psychological and behavioral disorders.

For the specific case of the divorced 45-year-old man described in this case study and review, the authors recommend how to evaluate his complaints and plan a course of treatment based on current clinical guidelines.

Ridwan Shabsigh, MD, President of the International Society of Men’s Health (ISMH), said that popular perception, and many cultures as well as the media present men as tough, resilient, and less vulnerable to psychological trauma than women.

He said that the fact is that men get affected substantially by psychological trauma and negative life events like divorce, bankruptcy, war, and bereavement.

The study has been published in the Journal of Men’s Health.

 

Link to original article: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/relationships/man-woman/Divorce-makes-life-hell-for-men/articleshow/23363772.cms?intenttarget=no