This Blog is written By Miss. Shalini Yadav, Student of Lloyd Law College, Greater Noida
“Protect women but don't harass men"
Introduction
Earlier criminal laws were generally men based the
reason behind this was less access of women to the social world as they are
considered better for household work and men are the ones who got the
opportunity to go out and work, so the crime earlier was mainly committed by
male strata of the society. As demand arose for women empowerment and their
rights, the concept of feminism also emerged. In India, we mainly talk about
women's empowerment, equality, women's rights, women's harassment but no one talks
about the crime committed by women in the name of feminism. Crime done by women
is as low as compared to men but crime is a crime and it is not important whether
it is done by men or a woman, what is important is motive and intention. This
article focuses on the rise of feminism and what are its pros and cons and how
it is affecting men's rights.
History of Feminism and Feminist Criminology
The history of feminism can be divided into three
waves. In India, The first wave evolved in the nineteenth and
early twenty century, social reform movement having the way for the growth of
women's writing. In the 20th century, women's
groups emerged for women's participation in politics. The 1970s and 1980s were marked
as an important period for the Indian feminism because issues related to land
rights, divorce laws, custody, dowry, rape, sexual harassment, political
representation were raised by women. And from the 1990s till the 21st century had
changed the ideology frame and women had got equal rights and opportunities like
men.
But with the development of feminism crime has also
increased. The concept of feminist criminology arose. It was developed in the late 1990s and 1970s.
Feminist criminology is basically a study of crime committed by women and those
are murder, shoplifting, theft, prostitution, child kidnapping, etc. And with
time, the concept of feminism has been changed and now it is used as a tool of
harassment of men.
Concept of Feminism and its Pros and Cons
The word "feminism" is not of an Indian origin,
it has originated from the Western world. It is basically an ideology, a social
and political movement that is known for sharing a common motive i.e. to
achieve a common goal; to achieve social, political, economical, personal, or
professional rights and authorities for women as enjoyed by men. But like every
concept, feminism also has some pros and cons.
If we talk about positive, it carves the path of self-respect, and women are
enjoying social status in society. It helps men to understand their role in the house and promotes them to spend more time with children and family. It helps
in promoting equality in marital relationships. And because of feminism women
can easily put out their voices and fight for their rights. But feminism also
has certain cons as well, which is not less than a crime nowadays, resulting in
as a weapon against men. Women are filing false cases of domestic violence,
rape, molestation, and dowry against men. The main reason behind filing a false case is either to extort money or defame them or hurt them or take revenge
from them in order to show them self-superiority and another person inferior.
According to National Crime Record Bureau report
2018, 2,875 cases field in India
were false while there was insufficient
evidence in 1093 cases to proceed.
The Delhi high court in one of its judgment directed police to take action against
women who were found to have filed a false case of rape by misusing the process
of la. Recently, a 17-year boy from guru gram committed suicide after a minor
girl had made a serious allegation against him on her Instagram account without
any evidence. The boy was trolled by several people and was getting messages.
He was unable to deal with them and went into depression and committed
suicide.
Another serious allegation which is used by women to
exploit men is filing of false dowry cases against husband and in-laws. One of the important cases is Nisha Sharma v. Manish Dalal 2003, Nisha made national
headlines when she refused to marry and alleged that she to be husband Manish
and his family members had made a dowry demand. The court dismissed the charges
against Manish and his family by observing that Nisha's decision to call off
marriage was pre-planned and there was insufficient evidence to prove the allegation. Manish and his family were in jail for 9
years. The question that arose from this case was that, whether anti-dowry laws
are against men and their families only?
In July 2017, the Supreme Court in one of its judgments
held that people accused of dowry harassment should not be arrested until
charges were verified. The court ordered the authorities to stop misuse of the
anti-dowry law taking into consideration that a large number of false cases were
being filed.
In 2011- 2013,
31,292 cases of cruelty by husband and in-laws under section 498 A of Indian Penal code
were filed by women were false. The high court of Bombay in case of Shri Mangesh Bal Krishna Bhoir V. Sab Leena
Mangesh Bhoir 2015, the court held that whenever wife files a false
complaint against husband and its family members were acquitted and no case was
made out against them, then such an act of wife would constitute cruelty. Court also added that the husband can seek
divorce on this ground.
Conclusion
So women are not always victim sometimes men are
also a victim. Feminism does not mean filing false cases against men in order to
take revenge from them or hurt them. Feminism is all about fighting for equal
rights, becoming independent, removing inequalities that we have in our system, and fight for yourself. Using feminism as a weapon to harass men will lead to
crime commission and crime is a crime regardless of the fact that who does it. Women
and men should be equally punished for any crime done by them because crime
does not have any gender. And because of
these false cases sometimes women who actually suffer from domestic violence
or any other crime did not get justice on time.
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