Gone Girl - Shows how women can get away with anything

I got to watch the movie "Gone Girl" after a friend suggested that I watch it. The following is a trailer for those who haven't watched it yet.

Only gripe is that the length of the movie could have been shorter. David Fincher is at his best. Ben Afleck and Rosamind Pike were very good. Everyone in the Husband's world conclude that he was responsible for the disappearance of his wife and even possible murder.

He is trying hard to extricate himself and prove himself innocent. We root for him as the movie progresses. The law enforcement folks turn blind to so many weak points in the wife's narrative. The wife got away once by framing a man for rape. Will she succeed in getting away with murder?

In India, women get away easily even after misusing the laws be it rape, DV, dowry (#498a), SHWB. Their word is sufficient and is accepted as truth. The statistics have shown the rampant misuse.

• 55.7% of rape cases are false. The acquittal is of no use as the reputation and dignity of the man has been tarnished forever.
• 2% conviction occurs in dowry cases - Husbands and his family run around courts for years to get acquittal. The weak minded ones cave in to the extortion and pay up to the wife to get out of the false cases. 

When crime is gender neutral, laws can not be gender biased. The presumption of women as victims goes a long way in destabilizing the society. One who does the crime has to pay. An innocent shouldn't get harassed.

The Indian law system has a tenet that a criminal can get away but an innocent should not be punished wrongly. The real world however doesn't play out according to the tenets. The real criminals can get away in the system.

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Open Letter to Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley Ji - Debunking Myths of Marriage Law

                                                                                                              18th December, 2014
To,
Shri Arun Jaitley ji,
Hon’ble Finance Minister of India,
Office of the Finance Minister,
North Block, New Delhi – 110001

Sub: Marriage Law (Amendment) Bill, 2014

Respected Sir,

I would like to debunk the myths around this unconstitutional bill which has grave
consequences for our nation. Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi ji’s vision of Shrest Bharat,
Make in India, Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas will go for a toss if the Marriage Law (Amendment) Bill is
passed. Please don’t be hasty in passing a UPA bill.

Myth 1. This law is the recommendation of Supreme Court
Hon’ble SC wanted a new ground for divorce to be added such that District court which do not
have inherent powers, can use this ground to separate a warring couple, who are not willing to
settle through mutual consent divorce (13 B of HMA). The present bill poisons the intent of
Hon’ble SC by leaching it with property division provisions where a wife gets minimum 50% share
in husbands property (self-earned, before and after marriage) and ALSO unbelievably enough the
INHERITED AND INHERITABLE property.

THE PROPOSED BILL IS NOT AN ADDITIONAL GROUND OF DIVORCE BUT AN ADDITIONAL GROUND AND WAY OF MORE ALIMONY in the shape of PROPERTY SHARE. SC never needed another Alimony Law, HMA 24 and HMA 25 are sufficient for women.

Myth 2. So what, it is gender neutral anyway!
Completely wrong! Where the new ground can be invoked by any spouse the property share is
given only to wife!! A wife can oppose the divorce under this amendment on the ground of
financial hardship but a Husband cannot!! He would be forced to depart with his property and
would be shoved a divorce if the wife so wishes. THIS BILL IS LOADED AGAINST HINDU MEN AND INCENTIVIZES DIVORCE AMONG HINDU WOMEN. THIS WOULD BREAK FAMILIES AT THE DROP OF A HAT AND CREATE SOCIAL UNREST!!

Myth 3. The new provision would help to reduce the judicial back log
When the Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage (IrBM) was used by Apex court as its special
inherent powers, all the Criminal (e.g., 498a), Quasi Criminal (Domestic Violence Act) and civil
(HMA 24, 25, CrPC 125 etc.,) were all disposed at one go and warring couple has no venue to
continue fight and/or go for appeal. With the new ground used by Family court, the divorce may
happen but warring couple may continue the war in criminal and other civil courts as Family
courts cannot direct the other courts in question. Also, the party aggrieved from this section
is free to go to the next court (High Court and Supreme Court) and spend another 20 years there.
Clearly this new law does not help reducing the back log at all and in contrary gives another
law/ground for people to create endless litigation and overloading the courts.

Myth 4. At least the couple would get a divorce and move on in life
Yes, the Wife can declare the marriage irretrievable, take divorce on this ground, usurp property,
and not care to end other cases on the ex-husband, marry another man and leave the ex-husband
high and dry.

On the other hand, the Husband would have lost his property in divorce and would still be running
around the courts proving his innocence in still pending false cases against him like 498a, CrPC
125, PWDVA etc. Can a Man running in courts move-on in his life?

Myth 5. After divorce, women come on the road, this way at-least they would have a house to
stay
If a women before marriage was not on the road it means that she has her parental house. After
marriage or divorce her share in her own parent’s property is still intact by Hindu Succession act
2009. Why would she be on road?
80% of Indian population need Food Security according to the Government and there is Food
security bill for that, how would these people give property to their estranged wives? The rest
20% only 15% are Hindus to which this amendment is applicable. What would happen to 85% of
the women?

Myth 6. Even after Alimony order the wives normally cannot get the order executed, this bill
would get them solid relief.
How would an order in this be different from that in HMA24 (interim maintenance) and HMA25
(permanent alimony)? Even if the order is made to share the property don’t you think that
mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers other heirs in the property would get into an endless litigation
against the order and women would have no other way but to work for those 20 years of
litigation? If she is not on road and does not starve for those 20 years why would she ever?

Law of nature demands a human to earn her/his bread. Women cannot live rest of her life on
someone else’s alms. They need to work.

Myth 7. I don’t care. It would empower the women somehow by pressurizing husbands
If after having the above Myths debunked, you still think that it would help, very little can be
done to enable you. I would still try:

As far as empowerment is concerned, it is never an outside virtue. It comes from within. None
can strengthen ones muscle by passive massage, what is needed is an active muscle building work
out – yes it needs hard work. One has to do it. Man or women. With these draconian laws are we
ready to have an army of able bodied young women who for the sake of getting the perceived
freebies don’t (want to) work? What is going to happen to our GDP? Are we true to ourselves
when we solicit in every developed country? 

“LAWS MUST BE MADE ON NATURAL JUSTICE PRINCIPLES AND NOT ON UNFOUNDED PREJUDICES”

Jai Hind! Vande Mataram,

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Open Letter to Union Law Minister Shri D.V Sadananda Gowda Ji

                                                                                        16^th December, 2014

To,

Shri D.V Sadananda Gowda Ji,

Hon’ble Law Minister of India, 

Office of the Minister for Law and Justice,

4^th Floor, ‘A’ Wing, Shastri Bhawan,

Rajendra Prasad Road, New Delhi - 110001

Sub: Marriage Law (Amendment) Bill, 2014

Respected Sir,

            21^st Century is undoubtedly the century of Asia: India and China, mainly! These two countries are in the path of exponential growth not merely because of its large population but essentially because of the family system that nurtures quality human resource. The unique opportunity that India has today of young and skilled youth is indeed because of its stable family system. Sanskar, Skills and Stability are fundamental to the society that solicits “Make In India”.  

The suicide statistics over the years has been alarming. While the number of women committing suicide in the country has been more or less stable, the rate of Men’s suicide has kept on increasing. This is quite an indicator of declining emotional state of Married Men in India, “Family Causes” being at the top of the list according to NCRB (Home Ministry).

Last few decades have brought in many women centric laws like 498a, DV and more. The education and earning power of women in India has pleasantly increased and our women are enjoying much more freedom and self-reliance than ever in the history of our nation. This new empowered generation has unfortunately also brought many western pitfalls in Indian family system; increased divorce rate is one of them. Divorce is no more a taboo. A pertinent fact to this was revealed by a study that most of the divorces (82%) are initiated by women in India.

At this culture cusp of Indian society where the fundamental value of family system is already disintegrating, Government is willing to allow one additional ground to seek divorce among Hindus. The Marriage Law Amendment Bill 2014 is introducing Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage as another ground for seeking divorce assuming that it would reduce the number of family litigations pending in the court. It is ironical that when government is trying to simplify law books and also repeal obsolete laws, this new ground would be a burden which would increase litigations of a warring couple even further as it brings property division angle of the Husband that also considers his pre-marital, inherited and inheritable property.

A similar law was passed in China in 2010 and was reverted back by SC of China as it not only increased family litigations but also made marriage-then-divorce as a property acquiring business for women.  When women start marrying for money and not for family and love, that’s a shameful decline of our cultural values. Men, Hindu in particular, to protect their property from a risk of possible divorce would then either stop marrying or may never invest in property. Savings would lose meaning, economy would SLOW DOWN! With marriage becoming more of a gamble that it already is today, Family System would collapse.

The proposed Marriage Law Amendment Bill is a conspiracy by world feminists to damage the social fiber of India, Hindu Family System in particular. The present government does not believe in appeasement politics, whether it’s of a particular sector party, we hope that it would also be immune to the Indian Feminists.

Supreme Court has authoritatively pointed out that the anti-dowry law - IPC 498a is “Legal Terror”. The NCRB data for the past five years shows the reality of 498a cases. The conviction rates are as low as 2%.

Domestic violence laws all over the world, including Bangladesh and Pakistan, are gender neutral but unfortunately in India it’s available only to the women. Surveys in the west have shown that a significant percentage of men too are victims of domestic violence. 

In the paper titled The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence, 2013^[1], by Nupur Bhutani, 93% of the men accepted that they suffered Verbal, Emotional and Physical violence from their wives. 76% stated that they had experienced Economic Abuse and 48% stated sexual abuse. Further, roughly 73% of men had experienced physical abuse at the hands of their wives.

(Source: The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence, 2013 – By Nupur Bhutani)

Ground level situation of Men in family dispute is that of a destitute:

Men face a bouquet of misuse-prone women centric laws (IPC 498a – Dowry law, Domestic Violence, SHWB etc.). There are already existing 3 laws of maintenance and Alimony of a wife. The new law, in addition to the available reliefs (only to a woman) also offers property share as an incentive to divorce for Hindu Women. Hard to believe but an unfortunate truth is that the proposed amendments to the Hindu Marriage Law is a “No Fault” divorce law with punishment only and always to a husband.

Few unbelievable features of the proposed amendments are:

• Husband cannot oppose the divorce under this section while a wife can.
• Husband’s assets are only divided. Wife’s assets are ignored.
• Marriage duration is not considered: A wife can force the husband to part with more than 50% of his premarital, acquired and share in ancestral, inheritable assets even for a 1-day marriage.
• Wife’s earning capability and education is not considered while deciding Alimony.
• No settlement of other running litigations are clarified in this bill: A wife would falsely accuse a husband and with this amendment get a no-fault exparte divorce, go ahead snatch share of husband’s property, get married to another Man and move on. Whereas, the Husband would’ve lost his property and would still be running around the courts proving his innocence in still pending false cases against him like 498a, CrPC 125, PWDVA etc.

The Honorable Law Minister is under the belief that the proposed amendments are a directive from the Supreme Court and that they will aid in reducing judicial backlog. The bill is entirely different from the version agreed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee led by Dr. Jayanthi Natarajan. Points to be noted:

1. Supreme Court asked for a new ground of divorce to be given to courts for separating a couple whose marriage has been irretrievably broken down.
2.  There was no property division.
3.  Why punish the parents and siblings (brothers, sisters) of the husband for a bad marriage and that too for a “No Fault” divorce? Will they keep quiet if their share in property is taken away due to the divorce under this ground? More cases will be filed in the higher courts and the judicial backlog will not decrease.

The new government has ignited the nation by giving it a vision, courage to dream big and to have faith in governance. But all this would necessarily require a healthy society where the mind is fearless and family values are conducive. We earnestly seek your immediate intervention since such half-baked hastily prepared formulations, needs due consultation and public opinion. These new bills that are based on unfounded prejudices are indeed an obstacle in “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas”. 

These can grievously damage the fabric of Indian society which is our unique advantage on the world stage today. This is apart from the socio-economic impact it may cause. For the reasons indicated above and the ground level situation of Men in India, we pray to you to kindly not consider and pass this UPA drafted bill, as it is, in haste and oblige us forever by giving us a chance to explain the matter in person.

Jai Hind! Vande Mataram,

---

[1] http://savefamily.in/reports/Dv_Act_study.pdf

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Marriage Law - A Law which will toss out Modi ji's pledge of Surajya, Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas

Modi ji has been careful in choosing capable persons for key ministries. It is however unfortunate that Modi ji has not paid attention to the Law ministry. Delayed justice is of no use. People have lost faith in the legal system.

The focus should be on reducing judicial back log. 43 lakh cases in High Courts and 3 crore cases in Lower courts were pending as UPA wound down. Judge vacancies, erratic work schedule, timings, vacations have had an adverse impact on the pending cases.

Judicial reforms and police reforms are the need of the hour for tackling the judicial backlog. It is equally important that faulty laws should not be framed, so that more fake cases are not added to the judicial backlog.

Marriage Law (Amendment) Bill is one such bill which the BJP led NDA government wants to
pass in the Winter session. It is a lapsed UPA bill, which was different from what the Parliamentary
Standing Committee suggested, and didn't take many factors into consideration. It was hurriedly passed in the Rajya Sabha in the last session of UPA without adequate debate and in poor attendance. Check out the draft version of the bill passed in the Rajya Sabha. One can clearly
find that the draft version was drastically different from what the Parliamentary Standing
Committee recommended. Check out the recommendations by the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

Supreme Court has stated IPC 498a as Legal Terror. The proposed Marriage Law (Amendment)
Bill if passed into law will be state sponsored extortion as the Husband is being punished for a "No Fault" divorce.

Flaws of the Marriage Law (Amendment) Bill

1. The Bill, out-rightly violates the essence of Article 15 of Indian Constitution which prohibits discrimination against any citizen on the grounds of religion or gender. The Bill is also unconstitutional as it takes away the basic rights of husbands, even to defend him or save his marriage, whereas the very same Bill gives the same rights only to the wives.
2. In present bill the contribution, duration, assets and ability of female spouse and liabilities and ability of the male spouse is completely ignored.
3. With the latest Hindu Succession Act, a woman is entitled to her share from her own parent's property as a man is. There is no rational as to why she should inherit from her in-laws too? What would happen to senior citizens if their son’s marriage is on rocks?
4. The bill essentially extends the “Financial Assistance” clause only to the wife. Can't a husband be poor and helpless as other sections of this act acknowledge.
5. The bill allows wife to use ‘Financial Hardship’ as an objection to block the divorce till her monetary demands are met, thereby legalizing extortion.
6. With this amendment, instead of letting the couple to arrive at a mutual consent it would only pressurize men to “pay and buy” a divorce, reducing the institution of marriage into a System where wives would misuse it for wrongful gains.
7. While 70% of Indians need Food Security Bill , this amendment as a way to protect destitution of women is a logically flawed and essentially a eye wash.

Time to Overhaul the Family Laws

With the focus on repealing obsolete laws, it will also be an appropriate time to overhaul the family laws. 

1. Hindu Marriage Act is conceived as an overall a gender neutral act and it must not be made gender biased in anyway.
2. The maintenance and alimony sections (HMA 24 and 25) must be brought up-to-date considering the enhanced education, earning capacity and women friendly work atmosphere in the country.
3. As women inherit the property from their own parents under the present laws, women being given any direct or indirect share in in-laws property is illogical and against natural justice.
4. Consideration of any property while determining Alimony should be as per the financial contribution by husband and wife.
5. In case of non-financial contribution, a formula should be devised to evaluate minimum duration of marriage for applicability of property division. A formula also should be devised to evaluate the contribution.
6. Pre-Nuptial Agreements should be made legal so as not to make marriage a gamble for Indian citizen and containing the risk of (breakage of) a marriage.

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Letter to Shri. Narendra Modi ji for Rethinking Marriage Law (Amendment) Bill

Respected Modi ji,

We have learnt through newspaper reports and from Union Law Minister 

Sri. D.V Sadananda Gowda that the "Marriage Law (Amendment) Bill" will 

be brought in the Winter Session. This is a lapsed UPA bill. This bill was 

drastically different from the version brought by the Parliamentary Standing 

Committee. Why are parliamentary processes not being followed? 

The Supreme Court asked for a new ground for seeking divorce. The Parliamentary

Standing Committee also agreed to have a new ground. It was gender neutral 

(i.e., applicable to Spouse and not only to wife as it is in the present draft). 

Congress led UPA changed it and also added the blind property transfer.

Repealing obsolete laws is good. At the same time, faulty laws also shouldn't be

framed. We really want a Modi Sarkar bill as we expect good governance and 

transparency from you.

BJP will be associated with adding the nuke to the arsenal of misuse-prone laws

and will destroy the social fabric of Bharat. Please be wise and do a course 

correction. We are all for women empowerment but not by suppressing men.

The judicial backlog won't reduce if you pass this one-sided bill which will nuke

Hindu men. Where is Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas? More cases will be filed in higher

courts. Crimes also might increase as you unleash this state sponsored extortion.

It is surprising to hear that this bill is being passed under the pressure of Supreme

Court. Supreme Court had also asked for amending IPC 498a to be made bailable and 

compoundable.  Why no action has been taken on that law? Making it compoundable

alone is not a solution as we know how it is in Andhra Pradesh.

The Marriage Law (Amendment) Bill is being brought in which:

- Husband can not oppose the divorce.

- Husband's assets are only shared. Wife's assets ignored. 

- Marriage duration is not considered. The wife can force the husband to part with 

   more than 50% of his premarital, acquired and share in ancestral, inheritable 

   assets even for a 1-day marriage.

- Wife's earnings, education is not considered.

- Husband would still be running around the courts fighting the misuse-prone 

   (false) cases (498a, DV, CrPC125 etc) while the wife would get the divorce and 

   may marry another man to continue the extortion.

It appears more like the husband is being punished for a "No Fault" divorce. The 
state is sponsoring this extortion. Women's empowerment need not be achieved 
by suppressing men. Why not make it gender neutral by replacing husband/wife 
with spouse? The right to oppose should be given to both. 

With a new Lok Sabha, the draft of the bill should be made public. Opinion should be 
sought from all, including from NGOs run by men, as it affects millions before it can be 
tabled in the Lok Sabha. We have high hopes on you as we expect good governance and transparency. 

Please don't rush to pass this bill as many factors were ignored. Let a proper 
parliamentary process be followed.  Proper debate should be conducted. A majority 
of MPs should be present while passing laws which have far reaching ramifications. 

This bill affects millions and will be disastrous if you allow it to be passed in the UPA 
form. We have high hopes. We will work with you for building a Shrest Bharat. Please 
don't follow the Congress way.

Hopefully you will consider the common man's suggestion and inputs in policy making 
unlike the Congress.

Jai Hind, Vande Mataram

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True face of Women Empowerment

The world over, the laws have been framed as gender neutral with abuse clauses as the crimes are gender neutral. Why are the men harassed in India? It is the law abiding male citizens (along with their mothers, sisters) who are abused and tortured. Supreme Court has rightfully pointed out that IPC 498a is “Legal Terror”. The data pulled up from the National Crime Records Bureau for the past five years shows the reality of 498a cases.

The conviction rate ranged from 21% to 15% over the last five years. The number of people arrested under 498a kept increasing even after the notice for following CrPC 41A was issued in 2010. This law contradicts the natural principle of justice which states that one is innocent till proven guilty.

The Hindu has carried a six month study of the rape cases in Delhi, which occurred in 2013[1], from the data from the National Crime Records Bureau. 40% of the cases were as a result of consensual relationship and were acquitted. There was only a 23% conviction rate.  The huge number of false rape cases led to Delhi being called “Rape Capital”.

There are innumerable false cases resulting in loss of reputation to the men, grief to their parents. What is the point of the acquittal after shaming them by the media trial. Who will restore their dignity?

Genuine victims don’t get the justice due to the misuse by both educated, working women and women goaded by the various women's’ rights groups.. There was so much hue and cry about the Badaun gang rape in UP. CBI has updated that the case was concocted by the girl’s parents and cleared the five men accused of the crime.

The data from the National Crime Records Bureau for the last 5 years also point to the fact that double the married men commit suicide due to these fake cases. These statistics indicate that one husband commits suicide every 8 minutes.

The same holds true in the suicide statistics in the age bracket of 30 to 44 years.

We have a bouquet of gender biased laws (IPC 498a, CrPC 125, Rape, Sexual Harassment against women at workplace, Protection of women from domestic violence act, Dowry Death).

Few changes which can bring about a transformation (as there are no laws safeguarding men or husbands) are as follows:

• The word “woman” should be replaced with person in the laws.
• The word “wife” should be replaced with spouse in the laws.
• CrPC 41A needs to be strictly followed.
• The name of the accused in the rape case should be revealed only after getting a guilty verdict.
• False filers should be punished stringently as valuable time of the courts is lost which can also go a long way in reducing the judicial pendency.

[1] http://www.thehindu.com/data/the-many-shades-of-rape-cases-in-delhi/article6261042.ece

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Airtel Ad "Boss" - Is it really breaking stereotypes?

An advertisement's aim is to catch the attention of the viewer and to leave an imprint of the 

product or the service. Airtel does have few Ads which have been memorable. 

The "Boss" advertisement misses the mark. It is totally unreal.  It is unethical for a boss 

to have his/her spouse as their subordinate. Let us forget it for Ad's sake.

The boss is shown in traditional Saree at work. She transforms to the modern woman once she 

reaches home and prepares the meal.

She is shown to be as a hard task master who wants the work done even when told that there 

wasn't enough time to get it done.  She prepares a four-course meal and tempts the husband 

to come home, knowing full well that the work will get affected.

She failed as a boss as she didn't plan the work properly. She could have treated her husband

to the four-course meal after the work got done. Her husband was putting in efforts to save

her.

Few thought it was regressive as it showed the woman cooking for her husband after returning 

home from work. She did it out of her free will. She had the energy to prepare a four-course

meal after a day's work!

If Airtel wanted to be remembered for a controversial Ad, then they achieved it.

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