Men seek help. Is womena`s panel listening ?
Aditya Ghosh
Monday, February 13, 2006 02:21 IST
MUMBAI: Counsellors at the Maharashtra Commission for Women, setup to help women harassed by
men, are having a tough time these days. Besides women, they have men queuing up with complaints
against their partners, wives, girlfriends and even mothers-in-law. And of the complaints filed by
women, many are turning out to be false.
In quite a few cases, women are filing complaints which are not only motivated but quite
misleading and just to harass men deliberately,and said the MCW Member Secretary Sudha Bhave.
Counsellors are investigating the matter before making a judgment. In one case, a woman
complained against her husband saying that he was not keen to live with her. After investigation we
realised that the husband was unnecessarily being made a villain, a counsellor said.
In another case, a woman complained against her brother for harassment in a property dispute.
We found that the woman had never discussed the matter with her brother and did not even turn up
for hearing. On the contrary the brother came on the scheduled date and we found it was a falsified
complaint, said Bhave.
But what is really intriguing is the rapidly increasing male turnout. The number of cases filed by
men has gone up and now comprises 5 per cent of the total complaints with the commission. Quite
a few men are coming to us seeking to redress various kinds of agonies they are facing from women,
be it their wives, mothers-in-law or even bosses, said counsellor Vaishali Thakur.
In a recent case, she claimed, a lady boss harassed a man so much that he sought help from the
commission which counselled both parties to sort out the crisis.
But is there a technical problem in helping the men in distress? Though set up with the aim of
helping women, the commission believes it can help men as well.
We have decided that the commission will deal with any dispute which involves a woman,
Bhave claimed. She added, Our main job is to counsel both parties so that the dispute is
resolved. As we were counselling men all this while, we will counsel women as well now. We call both the
parties and try to understand who is troubling whom.
The cause for the shifts, of men filing complaints and women misusing the law, probably has to do
with the fact that the law favours women heavily.
A strong law is required in most cases, but sometimes at the commission, we have seen how a
woman has harassed the man by exploiting the law and issuing false statements to the police, said
a counsellor.
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By – Gope Lalwani
For – SaveIndianSociety
