Following are my comments on Draft National Policy for Women, 2016: 1.6 Several paradoxical trends have been observed in the past few years. The growing acknowledgement of gender rights and equality is juxtaposed against increase in reporting of various forms of violence against women such as rape, trafficking, dowry etc.; Above conclusion is given without any statistical data, to demonstrate if increase in rape, dowry etc are much higher than population growth. 1.8 The current status of women with respect to human development parameters, legal rights for women to life and freedom from violence, economic and social discrimination and their rights to equality and equity shows that a lot still remains to be done. It is necessary therefore, to reinforce the rights-based approach for … [Read more...] about Critique and comments on Draft National Policy for Women, 2016
Presumptions in law in crimes against women and matrimonial law
Most of the criminal law is based on what society perceives as common sense standards of acceptable or non-acceptable behaviour in a given situation, where one’s actions can cause harm to others for no justifiable reason. For example, murder is a crime in all cultures and societies, because no one wants to risk getting deprived of his/her life at little or no notice; and society has agreed that taking away someone’s life has to have very good reasons for doing it. Same reasoning would apply to lesser crimes like theft -- that one cannot deprive another person of property or money by theft/cunning/deceit etc. Even a thief after having committed a theft and not being discovered, wants the protection of law so that his/her (see, we are gender neutral ) ‘goods’ cannot be … [Read more...] about Presumptions in law in crimes against women and matrimonial law
How to safeguard from false cases by wife–Part 1
“How should I safeguard myself and my parents from false cases?” – is one of the most common question raised by men -- after having given a brief or not so brief write-up of their story of abuse/threats/false allegations/insults/humiliation at the hands of wife. In many of these instances, the husband and family are already facing multiple cases filed against them, so the question about how-to-safeguard seems to be after the fact. Maybe many people are scared and expecting the skies to fall down as the cases progress forward, so whatever may be the individual feelings, the question about how-to-safeguard still remains there, waiting to be asked, and probably any answer will not be able to satisfy them fully. The intention behind their question is not merely to find out about how to … [Read more...] about How to safeguard from false cases by wife–Part 1
Analysis of provisions for punishing false cases/allegations and false evidence in IPC and CrPC
Lot of the time people who are facing false cases -- be it IPC 498A, false domestic violence allegations under DV Act, -- tend to make a demand to lawmakers and political leaders, that a provision of law misuse must be added to so and so Act, e.g. add misuse clause to IPC 498A, or add misuse clause to rape law to punish women making false rape complaints. All those demands are from made with good intentions, but there is a saying: “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. Which means: Even if we start doing something with good intentions, we may end up with bad consequences; because merely having good intentions is not enough, it has to be backed by proper analysis, and then taking right actions at right time. And one should be flexible and open-minded … [Read more...] about Analysis of provisions for punishing false cases/allegations and false evidence in IPC and CrPC
Various HC approve Child Access & Custody Guidelines along with Parenting Plan
An NGO Child Rights Foundation based in Mumbai has been working for shared parenting and reasonable access of children to fathers/both parents; and high courts of Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh have included these guidelines as either recommendations or as a guidance document, to be followed by judges of lower courts including sessions, district, family court judges, marriage counsellors in matters of deciding upon child custody and visitation orders. Click this to download a PDF of the custody and parenting plan guidelines document A probably first of its kind May 2015 judgment of Bandra, Mumbai Family court which gave shared interim custody to both father and mother was based on these guidelines. You can read both to compare that most points and parenting plan in the … [Read more...] about Various HC approve Child Access & Custody Guidelines along with Parenting Plan
Invoke IPC 209 on those making false complaints – Delhi HC judgment by Justice J R Midha
I am beginning to build respect for Justice J R Midha of Delhi High Cout. Few of his previous judgments are already covered on this site. Those refer to his decisions on making filing of income and assets affidavits mandatory in any matrimonial suit (divorce, RCR etc), so the the time of court and both parties can be saved in trying to find the level of income/assets of husband and wife, and need for maintenance of wives. This recent judgment marks a departure from judiciary’s almost lack of concern for unscrupulous litigants and accusers from wasting time of courts, taxpayers’ money, and last but not the least of the accused party or defendants, depending on whether it’s a criminal or civil case. There are multiple sections in Indian Penal Code (IPC) to punish false statements, … [Read more...] about Invoke IPC 209 on those making false complaints – Delhi HC judgment by Justice J R Midha