Women waiting for no-fault divorce bill to be passed

Here is an interesting news story based on statistics about divorce filings in Mumbai:

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/1896919/report-women-put-off-divorce-to-benefit-from-marriages-law-amendment-bill

Women are playing the waiting game when it comes to getting divorced.

Between January and August this year, divorce cases in Mumbai fell by 23% compared to the corresponding period last year. read more

Gender neutral rape laws are welcome

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-19/india/32746164_1_sexual-assault-sexual-violence-sexual-abuse

Government’s proposal to include sexual assault on men and boys on par with erstwhile term rape under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) is a welcome and long overdue move.

The proposal before the Cabinet seeks to change the definition of “rape” as a crime involving sexual assault of women and defined by forcible penetration. The move now is to expand the definition to include male victims of sexual assault as well by changing the relevant provisions of the IPC, Evidence Act and CrPc. If the proposal goes through, “rape” as a category of crime will cease to exist in the statute books, as the proposal is to replace it with “sexual assault”—a gender-neutral distinction. read more

National Commission for Women at it again

What exactly is the message National Commission for Women(NCW) has for Indian women is an interesting question!  Just a few months back, the NCW chairperson Mamta Sharma made news for advising women that being called sexy could be taken as a complement rather than as an affront.

Well here is a complete about turn from the same Mamta ‘foot-in-the-mouth’ Sharma now advising women to dress carefully in order to avoid attacks on them.  News below: read more

In China, wife loses right to property after divorce

Maybe Indian lawmakers need to learn from China rather than aping the West in hastily proposing amendments under Hindu Marriage Act which will give women the power of giving no-fault divorce and take away 50% of husbands’ property(and more) for a marriage which might have lasted only 1 day.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-22/china/29914022_1_marriage-law-divorce-personal-property read more

‘Risky’ postings rile women warders in State prisons

In India, it is a proud moment when there is a news reported of women standing equal shoulder with men and taking up traditional men’s jobs – like airline pilot, in military, auto-driver, taxi driver, and so on; but then their jobs are labelled as ‘risky’ and dangerous when they do these job in same conditions as men do and it does not seem so appealing anymore.  Is not women taking up risky jobs a small cost to pay for women empowerment?  Equal pay for equal work also means Equal work for equal pay!  News below: read more

Planning commission of India going nuts!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Make-moms-first-guardians-Panel/articleshow/12615525.cms

The same planning commission in news for recommending Rs 32/day as poverty line and for renovating 2 toilets (ok 10 toilet seats) for Rs 35 lakh has been short of progressive ideas, hence this hare-brained scheme from them.  If they only looked at custody orders in family courts, they will realize it is fathers who are in dire need to be given more custody rights so they are not kicked out of children’s life except as an ATM machine and sperm donors! read more

Cops asked to exercise caution in dowry cases

Recent news in Bangalore, Karnataka says: cops asked to exercise caution in dowry cases.  Well really, this is nothing new but circular issued in Oct 2010 which maybe Bangalore police is re-discovering now that there has been high-profile murder cases due to fear of false cases, and also request by major IT companies in Bangalore to police to not arrest (everyone in family and the dog) merely on filing of a dowry harassment (IPC 498a) case on husband. read more

More Indian men committing suicide because of divorce

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Divorce-driving-people-to-suicide-Report/articleshow/14571696.cms

Dipak Kumar Dash, TNN | Jul 2, 2012, 03.08AM IST

NEW DELHI: Divorce, “illegitimate pregnancy” and professional/career problems seem to be pushing more people to commit suicide. According to the NCRB report, in 2011, at least 16 people committed suicide every hour and the total figure was 1.35 lakh. read more

More Indian soldiers dying from suicide than in line of duty in J&K

Male disposability is inherent in society, and some may even argue that a soldier takes on a job which is inherently life-risking and that they are paid to be soldiers.  But these soldiers who committed suicides were not told before they joined army in J&K that they are more likely to die from suicide than in defending the country! read more

Australia turns back on children and fathers

http://www.avoiceformen.com/a-voice-for-men/australia-celebrates-false-accusation-awareness-week/

For the first time in Australian history these amendments were passed through parliament without bipartisan political support, and then only after a late night stifling of debate in the Senate. These changes in effect give unsubstantiated allegations of family violence primacy above the rights of the child to an ongoing and meaningful relationship with both parents whilst effectively removing legislated penalties for perjury. [1] read more