Men are persecuted at every level, says founder of men's rights organisation

Even as International Womenrsquos Day was marked yesterday and the party continues this weekend Vaastav founder Amit Deshpande Vaastav is an umbrella body of menrsquos rights organisations says that International Menrsquos Day marked on November 19 does not have the visibility or marketing acumen of Womenrsquos Day ldquobut is growing in significance every yearrdquoVOICE CHOICE Marking International Menrsquos Day 2013 at the CST Dombivlibased instrumentation engineer Deshpande states that Vaastav was launched on November 19 2013 for the different menrsquos rights groups in Mumbai the Indian Family Foundation Borivli Protect Indian Family Foundation Mulund MASHAAL Mothers And Sisters of Husbands Against Abuse of LawAWARENESS It is about another point of view Though Vaastav has menrsquos rights groups under its wing it is also an avenue for certain womenrsquos forums such as the All India Motherinlaw Protection Forum where women jailed in false dowry harassment cases and in false domestic violence cases have nowhere to goAN UNEQUAL MUSIC Amit DeshpandeIn an atmosphere charged with anger over the spate of sexual harassment cases towards women Deshpande put the focus on false rape cases which he says ldquoare being filed with impunity by some women False sexual harassment cases affects the women of the wrongly accused as well This is not women empowerment but only empowerment of unscrupulous elementsrdquo says the angry engineer with convictionVISIBILITY The group made its presence felt at the Mumbai marathon 2014 Excerpts from an interviewQ What are the most common complaints your organisation receivesA The maximum cases we get are about false dowry harassment and false domestic violence cases Recently there has also been a surge in the number of false cases of sexual harassment at workplace Many men complain of facing abusive marriages wherein the wife subjects them to domestic violenceQ Generally what is the social strata of the male complainantsA There is no general pattern for these cases People from all sections of society are affectedQ What do you do to help these peopleA Once a case is filed the biggest problem a man faces is that everyone looks at him with suspicion he is persecuted at every level of the society mdash police judiciary media Men need to be heard without judgement We only provide them with emotional strength to fight the false casesQ Do authoritiespolice listen to these complaints Do victims find it difficult to get the police to file an FIRA There is no law under which a man can report an incidence of domestic violence perpetrated by his wife Usually victims face ridicule and ostracisation at police stations If at all the complaint is accepted it is reported as a noncognisable offence NCQ In Indian society except in a few cases it is still very much a manrsquos worldA Indian society always had the equilibrium for men and women If women played the role of caretakers men played the role of protectors providers In case of natural calamities or wars it was always assumed that men would protect women and children at all costs In patriarchy men had economic dominance but women had emotional dominance If a woman tied a string around a manrsquos wrist and called him her brother she would get a protector for herself who was supposed to give his life for her safety It never was only a manrsquos world as it is made out to beQ Men are raping and molesting women women are not harassing menA It is a myth that women are not harassing men Men get raped and sexually harassed groped just as women do We as a society need to wake up to reality On December 4 2012 the Cabinet cleared the Criminal Law Amendment Bill 2010 which had made rape genderneutral which means rape victims as well as perpetrators could be men or women The Delhi rape case happened and the government brought the ordinance for rape law which still kept rape gender neutral Later some organisations protested and forced the government to make rape law gender biasedQ What about the Delhi rape caseA We sympathise with victims of all genders and all crimes but we need to understand that most rape cases are sexual liaisons gone awry If a couple has intercourse before marriage and the boy breaks the relationship then the female can file a rape case which happens in most cases of rape complaints This is also how in 98 per cent of the rape cases the perpetrator is known to the victimQ The Shakti Mills caseA Our society progresses upon creating competition between men A man is judged by his manhood by being a protectorprovider which he has to prove to be accepted as a real man This concept also creates the lsquowastersquo of the society who lose out in this competition Such people live on the fringes of society and have their own dark alleys The teavendor outside Shakti Mills said he is selling tea since past 15 years there but never had the courage to enter inside This tells us that there are certain areas which are out of reach for both men and women Until we stop measuring men based upon their achievements only unfortunately such alleys will continue to exist Shakti Mills case was one such incidentQ We still have a way to go before men and women are considered equals mdash gender statistics show thisA I disagree which statistics show this Every year twice as many men commit suicide in India as compared to women In our cities more females are graduating from universities as compared to males In industrial hazardous risks it is 100 per cent male exposure I can provide sources for all this data The future is about gender equality in the true sense It no longer can be accepted that one section keeps the rights and the other keeps responsibilities It has to be divided equally