498A arguments

We sure remember those good old days when we used to play with our friends and cheat and yet argue that we haven’t cheated at all. We also tried to blame it on others for cheating and most often, the game gets over but the habit remains in the person. Especially in the 21^st century, the best way to commit suicide is to say the truth. It is suicidal not to lie, isn’t it?  

Who doesn’t lie? Everybody does. An employee would lie that he/she is sick but goes to attend an interview. A student would lie that he/she was sick but he/she had gone to a movie. A husband would lie to his wife that he was stuck in the traffic but was drinking with his friend in a bar. A wife would lie to her husband that she doesn’t have any money to shop but she only wants to increase her own bank balance. Lying has become a pathological habit.  

Similarly, there are issues where some people find it enjoyable to lie to protect their interest and maybe to protect their future.  

There is no doubt that IPC 498A (Anti-dowry laws) is rampantly misused by women, but still there are people who are aware that if do not lie; probably their interests will not be taken care of. And so they rack their brains to come up with some lame and irrational excuses only to prove that 498A isn’t misused. And here are some of their lame arguments. 

1) Why only 498A is targeted? Many other IPC laws are misused? Firstly, if they are so knowledgeable saying that many other IPC laws are misused, then wouldn’t it be a strong argument of theirs if they enumerate in detail the various IPC laws that are misused. Maybe the judiciary too would like to know which IPC laws are misused. Any answer? Nay, they do not know it. It is a baseless argument. Even if hypothetically we believe that many other IPC laws are misused, is it not necessary to alter these IPC laws in a manner that they ceases to be misused? The prevalent protest against lopsided 498A is because it does not affect just one individual but the whole family. Wouldn’t it be rational in their part to actually support protest against 498A because of it’s inherent family breaking mechanism instead of coming up with such lame excuses to protect their ulterior motives? It definitely reveals their ulterior motives when they come up with such arguments.  

2) The misuse of 498A is minuscule compared to dowry death.Since when the judiciary began considering the numbers before enacting or amending any laws? Just one Jessica Lal case made the judiciary amend the IPC section. Just one case. Besides, if dowry death is occurring then why others should be punished? This clearly shows that they believe that as long as dowry death is alive in the country, no legal protection should be provided to men, and in fact, they should be exposed to legal intimidation – Supreme Court calls it Legal Terrorism. What is the real connection? Are dowry deaths behind the misuse of 498A? No? Then? What is it? The intentions are very clear that they don’t want to amend 498A and to prohibit the judiciary to take appropriate actions to protect men too, these people are bringing forward a ridiculous argument that if dowry death is still there then why is there a need to protect men? That means a common man should be punished because terrorists are also men. This is their argument. 

3) Only 0.06 percent of cases filed are false. Yeah right, let’s just say, 90% of the students copy in exams. What do you think? Of course a sane person would like to know the methodology of such a research study. How can 90% of the student copy in exams? The answer becomes very simple to understand when the methodology says that only 10 people were interviewed. Similarly, when the methodology used in such a research findings that 0.06 percent of 498A cases are false, it becomes necessary to understand the population and sample size of such a research. No, there is no such mentioning of the methodology. Then, on what basis these people are showing such questionable statistics? Maybe only those women who had filed false cases must have prepared such a statistical report only to conceal the reality from the people.  

4) A lot many dowry related harassment on women are unreported. Hypothesis. Hypothesis. Hypothesis. That is all they come up with to protect their interests. Unreported!!! Now if they are not reported then how did they come to know that women are not reporting? We are not supposed to deal with someone’s baseless hypothesis. Show us the statistics that shows that many dowry related harassment on women are unreported. If we say that majority of the men are beaten up by their wife, but they never report or complain about it, then what? An argument using such baseless hypothesis only proves how desperately these people want to protect their interests, which apparently gets fulfilled if 498A remains in its present lopsided form. By hook or by crook, these people want to portray women as only and only victims and men as oppressors and criminals. They hypothesize so ridiculously that anybody would be able to figure out their desperate attempts to safeguard their ulterior motives. Unreported!!! How ridiculous!!! 

5) Only 2% conviction rate proves that 498A needs to be more stringent.Is this a funny statement or what? This means that all those women who file 498A case have sworn that they will never lie in their entire life. In fact, it also implies that women don’t lie; it is not possibly for women to lie just as a man can’t fly, women can’t lie. And they want to punish those men who are arrested on a woman’s lie. They don’t care whether a woman is lying or saying the truth; all the want is that when a woman files a case, by hook or by crook, the accused must be punished even if the woman is lying. Isn’t this a violation of the Legal Tenet, “Innocent until Proven Guilty”? No, all men are guilty because they are criminals and women are goddesses, right? Well, it seems those who came up with such argument of 2% conviction rate are the ones who desire to misuse 498A law. If they are so much concerned about conviction rate, they should have made the law more equal for both the genders. Then the conviction rate would be 100% and the number of cases filed too will come down significantly. No, they don’t want this; they want women to misuse 498A laws and also want 100% conviction rate.  

These people are not interested in social welfare. They are interested in marginalizing men, putting them on the receiving end, robbing them of their human rights and terrorizing them with legal threat. This is what Women Empowerment all about. This is how they seek to attain gender equality. What a sham!!! Deception.  

Women groups are scared because they are aware that they have worked really hard to get this lopsided 498A law approved by the Government and now they do not want the Government to amend it to provide legal protection to men. They know that if legal protection is given to men then thousands of women will be arrested for filing a false case and for perjury.  

Let see how many more lame and ridiculous arguments they come up with to hide their ulterior motives. They are now completely exposed to the society. The society now knows that women groups are not for social welfare at all.