Activists demand gender-neutral Indian domestic violence law

CHICAGO: Many Indian-American activists have opposed India’s new law against domestic violence, saying its several provisions lend themselves to misuse and could lead to more broken homes.

Activists said they feared the law would be misused. They urged that the new law be made “gender neutral,” with a greater emphasis on counselling as in the West. They said misuse of the new law would affect women too and would bring minor differences in a marriage to a point of no return. “It is a great law to get even with in-laws,” said one woman. Others said the provisions of the domestic violence law were too expansive.

“A significant flaw in this law is that it lends itself to such easy misuse that women will find it hard to resist the temptation to ‘teach a lesson’ to their male relatives and will file frivolous cases,” said Avinash Gupta. A similar trend has been shown in the anti-dowry law, which is being misused to such an extent that the Supreme Court (in India) has termed it ‘legal terrorism’.

“There are three problems with this law,” said Gupta. “It is overwhelmingly biased, the potential for misuse is astounding, and the definition of domestic violence is too expansive,” Gupta said.  

Women opposed the new law too.