Proposal to amend Domestic Violence (DV) Act to protect mothers in law

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/not-just-daughtersinlaw-maneka-gandhi-says-domestic-violence-act-must-protect-mothersinlaw-too/1272723

“Many cases have been brought to the notice of the minister where elderly women have been misbehaved with or even tortured by their sons and daughters-in-law for property or other reasons. Even when the case is genuine, no action can be taken against the daughters-in-law under the law. The minister feels that the law should protect all women, regardless of their relationship with the oppressor. We are exploring legal options and will move an amendment soon,” said a source close to Maneka.

In India, abuse of mothers in laws by daughters in law may be wished away as utter nonsense by those brought up on diet of Ekta Kapoor’s TV serials, but the statistics based on study done by HelpAge India point out that it is a reality:

The report found 63% of daughters-in-law as the major abusers of the elderly, followed by the sons (44 per cent).

The HelpAge report said that Delhi NCR region reported the highest (100%) number of the incidences in the hands of daughters-in-law.

Going back to the news about proposed amendment of DV Act (PWDVA):

However, legal experts said allowing women to be charged under the law may defeat its very purpose, as a slew of counter-cases may be filed in response to genuine complaints. While the present law allows an oppressed woman to move against her son, the daughter-in-law has “immunity”. Challenging this “immunity” may threaten the very edifice of not just the Domestic Violence Act but also the Dowry Act, said experts.

Well, if daughters-in-law are major abusers of the elderly at 63%, granting any kind of immunity to them under DV Act is acting like an ostrich with head buried deep in the sand.  These people are not experts in reducing domestic violence.  They are the experts in creating domestic violence propaganda and how to increase the revenues of DV (and divorce) Industry.  “Hey, I am an expert on domestic violence!  Don’t confuse me with the facts and statistics!”

Further, these ‘experts’ add:

“The decision to keep women out of the purview of the definition of respondents in the law was deliberate and calculated. If changes are made that allow a mother-in-law to move against a daughter-in-law, it would mean that the moment a woman files a domestic violence or a dowry case against her in-laws, her husband would get his mother to file a counter case against her under the Domestic Violence Act. That will open the floodgates for misuse of the law,” said a lawyer associated with Lawyers’ Collective.

Oh, now they talk about law misuse.  The same people who always say to men (and their families): “Every law gets misused.  Go to court and prove your innocence!”.  So where is the experts’ condescending statement “every law can be misused” now that daughters-in-law are proposed to be made as respondents too under PWDVA?  When your bread-and-butter provider always-the-victim-innocent-daughter-in-law files a case, it is a genuine case and not a counter case!  But when mother in law files case against daughter in law, it must be a counter case?  Or is it really that your easy dhandha of milking the men and their families in DV, 498a, maintenance, and divorce may start to looking shaky now?

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