‘Man’datory support

Recently, actress Sonakshi Sinha apologised on Twitter for her mistake in judging Sarabjit Singh, who was arrested for allegedly harassing Jasleen Kaur, a Delhi University student, in West Delhi’s Tilak Nagar. It turned out that the girl had fabricated the story to gain political mileage. Another incident in which law was allegedly misused against men involved the Rohtak sisters who beat up three men in a bus in Haryana last November.

This is not to suggest that there is no harassment against women, but only that there is a trend of men falling prey to the misuse of laws that were meant to protect women. In the era of social media and information overload, it is not just women but also men who are equally vulnerable. Hence, the need for support groups for men, the mere idea of which was laughed at till recently.

Vivek Deveshwar, coordinator for Men Rights India (MRI), based in Bengaluru, claims there has been a rise in the number of incidents across the country in which anti-harassment laws were misused against men. “Both media and people in general are not interested in men’s issues. Media wants a heroine to sensationalise news. And politicians are using “women’s safety issues” to milk votes. Even most men who are in trouble think that they are unlucky because they have been taught to “act” strong in the hardest of times,” says Vivek. His organisation counsels men who have been victims of misuse of law on how to face the consequences without fear and without resorting to illegal ways to get relief.

Two of the “accused” in Rohtak Sisters case are said to have lost the opportunity to join the Indian Army despite clearing the physical test. The results of the polygraph tests conducted apparently went in favour of the youngsters and against the Rohtak sisters. But the case is still on.

In the Sarabjit Singh affair, too, his employers were on the verge of sacking him for his “embarrassing” act in public, according to sources.

The biggest flaw in the anti-sexual harassment and anti-dowry laws is that even when it’s established that a complaint is fake, the case is not transferred to the complainants as in other cases, says Kumar Jagirdar, national president of Child Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP). “There is no punishment for the misuse of laws. The anti-dowry law is misused by the wife’s relatives to take revenge on the husband. There is not a single law in our country or support system to address issues. That’s why we have been demanding to have a national commission for men,’ he adds. Kumar Jagirdar is the first husband of Chetana Kumble, who divorced him before marrying former India bowler Anil Kumble.

One big plus for men is that women themselves, in general, don’t support the misuse of laws against them. In both Rohtak sisters and Jasleen Kaur incidents, it was women who came forward and testified against the girls.

Death of chivalry
According to Vivek Deveshwar, due to the increasing hatred against men, they are reluctant to help women in need at office or in public fearing a backlash.