Why fight ??

My discussions with a new comer
Suggestion : Pl read this message from the end upwards
========================================================


>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Nice to receive a mail from you.  What is this? 10 years of fighting..
? Good spirit.  Convey my thanks too.. to your friends.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Well.... you've asked me "what's this??"

my friend... let me try to explain

1. Initially, long ago, bulls were ready to fight ... then the cows lay low ...

2. Then came a breed / generation of bulls who wanted things fast... everything was supposed to be like the two minute noodles. some of these bulls supported "cowism". Many bulls at least, did NOT oppose "cowism". Some of these breed / generation of bulls were plain confused, some clueless and some plain UN-interested

2.1.. These new breed / generation of bulls started "quickly" settling cases by paying up, when cows snared or kicked or gouged them

3. Emboldened by the first victories, came a new breed / generation of cows who were ready to fight... so the bulls had to run pillar to post, court to court and feel sorry about themselves

4. seeing more victories, cows got more organised and started making laws that benefits young cows and made life miserable for bulls and bulls brothers and fathers and even bull's mothers

5. ....but evolution continued .... Then came a new breed of bulls who were ready to fight .........

Well... lets call it the evolution cycle...

PS : some caveats :
- Just like in real life not all cows and bulls are not the same
- Some bulls still want it fast
- Some bulls are ready to face life "as it comes"....

...............



regards
Vinayak



On Jan 19, 2008 5:51 PM, First_name second_name - First_name.second_name@gmail.com

    Dear Mr. Vinayak,

    Nice to receive a mail from you.  What is this? 10 years of fighting..
    ? Good spirit.  Convey my thanks too.. to your friends.

    regards,

    First_name.s

On Jan 19, 2008 4:34 PM,  < Vinayak......victim123@dfgh.net> wrote:
> Dear Mr. First_name
>
> Sad to hear you case
>
> Its worse to hear a male saying that fighting is making you tired ...or
> making you loose interest in life
>
> I too am fighting a divorce case
>
> I got married more than 10 years ago
>
> But by the grace of god and because of the right company of friends I am NOT
> tired
>
> I believe that It is a mental state
>
> Our main group is at
>  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saveindianfamily/join
>
> Please join the same when time permits, read the mail and IF interested post
> your case and questions
>
> It is easy to say "Law favours the woman". It is tougher to say, "I will
> change the law"  .... but I find much more fun and life in "I will change
> the law" !!! than resigning to fate
>
> I often remember Saint thiruvalluvar :
> theyvaththaan aakaathu enium muyaRsi than
> mey varuththak kUli tharum
>
> regards
> Vinayak
>
>
>
>
> On Jan 17, 2008 3:30 PM, First_name second_name-
> First_name.second_name@gmail.com
> wrote:
> > Dear Mr. Vinayak,
> >
> > Greetings.
> >
> > Thanks for the mail.   Few words in your description about your group
> > interested me.
> >
> > I am now fighting a divorce from  my wife.  My case is dismissed twice
> > by courts without any great logic. Let the law support females,  they
> > do suffer a lot. but It should not be in every case.
> >
> > There are men like me,  go to court honestly for ending a bitter
> > marriage life,  get out of this issue, forever. But there is no way it
> > seems. We can continue fighting and heard in supreme court after 15
> > years of  seperation inclusive of 10 years  effort to get that.  But
> > what for?  In that  process we lose interest in Life itself. then why
> > would we need a Wife?
> >
> > This is the reason I got interested in your description.
> >
> > Do the needful,  if it suits you.
> >
> > thanks and regards,
> >
> >
> > S.First_name.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Jan 17, 2008 4:39 PM,  < Vinayak.....victim123@dfgh.net> wrote:
> > > Dear First_name
> > >
> > > Please write a few lines on why you wish to join our SIF Suggest group
> > >
> > > regards
> > > Vinayak
> > > One of the moderators
> > >
> > > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > > From: Google Groups - noreply@googlegroups.com
> > >
> >
> > > Date: Jan 17, 2008 3:07 PM
> > > Subject: Google Groups: Membership Pending
> > > sifsuggest-owner@googlegroups.com>
> > >
> > >
> > >  First_name < First_name.second_name@gmail.com > requested to join the
> > > SIFSuggest
> > > group and is awaiting approval.
> > >
> > > You can approve or reject this request online at:
> > > http://groups.google.com/group/sifsuggest/pending?hl=en
> > >
> > > Thank you,
> > >
> > > The Google Groups Team
> > >

Innocent NRI men victims of marital fraud

Innocent NRI men victims of marital fraud

Wednesday, 01.16.2008, 11:10pm (GMT-7)

NEW DELHI: An alarmingly large number of troubled NRI marriages have been ending up in criminal proceedings against innocent NRI men and their families. Many successful NRI men have been falling prey to this extortion and blackmail racket that is based on the easy to misuse dowry laws due to their lopsided and gender biased nature, and where those misusing the law know that they will not be punished.

Several NRIs and their family members in India have been jailed, NRI children have been abducted to India and forced to cut off contact from their family in the USA while the NRI fathers sweat it out for many years in the Indian courts in an attempt to obtain that elusive justice.

Unscrupulous Indian women who want to gain immigration or education benefits for themselves or their families have duped thousands of NRI men into sham marriages and many have become the victims of a huge extortion racket based on the misuse of IPC 498A (the dowry law).

Here is how it works. The girl and her parents lure a NRI scapegoat into marriage. After securing her immigration benefits, financial demands are made, either directly or indirectly under the garb of "helping" the wife's family.

If the NRI husband refuses to comply with the wife's demands or if the marriage goes bad, a false dowry case is promptly registered in India against the NRI husband and in-laws. A mere complaint by the NRI wife is sufficient for getting the NRI's parents and other relatives incarcerated in India. Then a hefty sum of money is demanded, generally to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The hapless NRI husband, completely unaware of the existence of these lopsided laws in India, is baffled and often gives in to the demand of the wife and her family in order to get the false cases withdrawn and secure the release of his relatives.

A worse fate is in store for those righteous ones who refuse to give in to this extortion. They can not go to India to prove their innocence because as soon as they land in India, they are arrested, their passports are confiscated and they are asked to remain in India till the conclusion of the false dowry case (the expected length of trial is 7-8 years).

If the NRI husband decides not to go to India, the Indian law enforcement machinery declares him a criminal, revokes his passport and issues an Interpol Red Corner Notices (meant for international terrorists and hardened criminals) against them.

Either way, the innocent NRI husband and his family are devastated, merely based on a false complaint, without an iota of evidence being required to file or prosecute. If you think that the occurrence of such abuse is infrequent, consider this - The website 498a.org has received more than 700 complaints, many are alumni of IITs, IIMs and Indian Medical Colleges, in the past one and a half years.

Chances are that if any of your Indian friends is going through a divorce / is recently divorced, this legal provision has either been threatened or misused against him by his wife / ex-wife and her family to get more favorable financial terms in divorce or child custody.

Child custody is another thorny issue wherein countless NRI children have been abducted to India by vengeful spouses after they lose child custody during the divorce in their country of residence. Hundreds of traumatized NRI fathers have been trying to get in touch with their children, sometimes for more than five years after being awarded sole custody of their NRI children.

Often, after losing the child custody case, the abusive NRI mother abducts the child to India, while the father has to deal with an unsympathetic political and legal system, and ends up running from pillar to post to get his children back.

It is also interesting to note that while criminal proceedings are initiated against the husband and his family in India, no cases are filed in the US or the country of residence. The reason is because the penalty for perjury in western nations is enforced stringently, while in India, it is very easy to file a false complaint and the judicial process takes it own time, which results in prolonged harassment and agony for the innocent people who are accused of heinous crimes.

This "jumping of jurisdiction" to the favorable one, mostly to India, has been successfully employed by hundreds of vengeful women to harass innocent families. Several organizations have been trying to engage the MOIA in discussions about these issues in an attempt to find a peaceful solution.

Despite several meetings with and representations to the top MOIA officials and the MOIA minister, Valayar Ravi, himself. MOIA has persistently refused to acknowledge the anguish and suffering of the aggrieved husbands and fathers. Efforts to notify MOIA about our concerns have been met with extreme resentment and hostility.

According to a report, when Vayalar Ravi was asked to comment on the desperate pleas for help by innocent NRI husbands, he had the following advice - "My advice to them is: Sort out differences and live a happy life. Otherwise, only courts can decide on such matters".

Ironically, this callous and insensitive remark was followed by a "fervent appeal" to the NRIs asking them to invest in India. But, such contradiction is not unexpected from the Indian politicians, who, barring certain exceptions, are not particularly known to be committed towards development or progress for even the populace they are supposed to serve.

Misinformation spread by the MOIA, NCW and MWCD The anti-NRI approach becomes all too evident if one carefully examines the fresh legislations being proposed by the MOIA. Let us consider the issue of failed and fraudulent NRI marriages.

A lot of hype is being generated by the various Indian Government Ministries, notably - MOIA, Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) and the National Commission for Women (NCW), over the issue of the abandoned brides. Claims have been made in the national and international media that NRI husbands have abandoned 30,000 brides.

However, while answering a question in the Lok Sabha, the Minister acknowledged that his ministry has received only 100 (hundred) complaints. Tough legislation is being proposed in order to punish NRI men and impose various conditions on them prior to allowing them marry a woman from India.

Interestingly, despite the reported cases of marriage fraud by some NRI women, no such conditions will apply to NRI women who marry in India. Furthermore, no protection against marital fraud by women from India is being granted to NRI men.

It is obvious that MOIA is under pressure from the NCW and MWCD. Meanwhile, the trend in India to extort and blackmail innocent NRI husbands their families continues unabated. Now, for the hundreds of harassed NRIs and their families, the allusion to India does not bring forth the taste of local delicacies or the sweet memories of childhood. Instead, it brings to the surface tremendous feelings of loathing, despair, and disgust.

Emotionally scarred, financially destroyed and socially ostracized, many NRIs have decided to completely cut off their ties from India - the so-called homeland they blame for their miseries. Unless some urgent measures are undertaken to rectify the situation, thousands of other NRIs will follow suit - helped in no less part by the incompetence, prejudice and apathy of the very Ministry that is supposed to watch out for their interests.

The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) organized the much-hyped Pravasi Bhartiya Divas from Jan 7 to Jan 9 this year. Ostensibly, it is a platform for celebrating the success of the Indian diaspora abroad and for supposedly connecting them to their roots in India.

Unfortunately, it has become a platform for unabashedly demanding investments from NRIs and for demonizing NRIs, often in the same breath. While the sole purpose of creating the MOIA was for it to act as a liaison between the widespread Indian diaspora and their homeland, the MOIA, regretfully, seems to be pursing a covert agenda of marginalizing and isolating the NRIs, and is interested in the NRIs only for their wealth.

The indifferent attitude of the MOIA is clearly reflected by it turning a blind eye towards the family problems faced by NRIs.

ANDY S.

indiapost

< http://indiapost.com/article/india/1844/>

HINDU WIFE CANNOT ADOPT, RULES SC

comments
--------------

Most of these adoption disputes have some property dispute or property claims behind the adoption case

Unfortunately this news items does NOT give complete details

Why did this man seek to be the son ? why did he go to great lengths to prove his adoption ?


regards
Vinayak


================ news item ==================


HINDU WIFE CANNOT ADOPT, RULES SC
 
       
A Hindu woman cannot adopt a child during the survival of her marriage, the Supreme Court has ruled.

Upholding a judgment of Madhya Pradesh High Court, the bench said a married Hindu woman can adopt only under certain circumstances. On condition is if the husband renounces the world or ceases to be Hindu.

The bench dismissed the plea of Brajendra Singh in a 28-year-old case. He had pleaded that he be made the adopted son of Mishri Bai on the ground that she was living like a divorced woman. Her husband had been staying separately from the first day of their marriage, Singh said. By Indian law, divorced women are allowed to adopt children.

The apex court made it clear that "only a female Hindu who is married and whose marriage has been dissolved — that is who is a divorcee — has the capacity to adopt".

There was a conceptual and contextual difference between a divorced woman and one who is leading life like a divorced woman, the bench said.

A wife can adopt a child, the court said, but this exception is made only when the husband is declared by to be mentally unsound.

A woman can also adopt a child if her husband is dead.

But if none of the conditions feature in a case she cannot adopt, the bench added.

The judges further said a husband can adopt a child but only if the wife gives consent. "Unless the wife has completely renounced the world or has ceased to be  Hindu or has been declared by court to be of an unsound mind, the husband has to take her consent before adopting a child," the judges said.

Brajendra had approached the Supreme Court under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act after Madhya Pradesh High Court refused to endorse him as an adopted son of Mishri Bai.


http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=f657ad3f-6181-43dc-a411-5ff3b9c69961&MatchID1=4627&TeamID1=1&TeamID2=6&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1165&PrimaryID=4627&Headline=Hindu+wife+cannot+adopt%2c+rules+SC

alternate URL
http://tinyurl.com/283yzj

============ end of news item ===================

IS THE SOCIETY OSTRACIZING DOWRY FREE MARRIAGES ??

IS THE SOCIETY OSTRACIZING DOWRY FREE MARRIAGES ??

========== NEWS ITEM =========

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20080116001622&Page=R&Title=Kerala&Topic=0

PALAKKAD: The Women€ ¦'²s Commission at its sitting held at the Municipal Town Hall here on Tuesday said that the Samastha Kerala Religious Education Board should take a final decision on the act of of the Kullukalloor Mapattukara Rahmaniya Juma Masjid Mohalla committee ostracising 13 families and the resultant problems associated with it.

Women€ ¦'²s Commission member P.K.Sainaba had taken up the case after reading reports in the media and after hearing the views of both the sides in the case at its sitting held on Tuesday.

The Sunni Mohalla committee had ostracised Palliyathodi A.Abdul Khader for the marriage of his daughter to a Mujahid activist without any dowry and the members of the 13 families who participated in the wedding.

The stand of the Mohalla committee that they had not cooperated with the family of A.Abdul Khader because he had not been paying the membership fees for the institutions under the mosque for the last two years was not accepted by the commission.

The non-coopertion by the Mohalla committee was misinterpreted as ostracisation, contended the defendants. The complainant had presented mobile phone recordings and a CD as the evidence.

The Commission felt that the committee€ ¦'²s act of opposing the model marriage which was conducted without any dowry and the incidents was not in good taste.

A total of 53 cases were taken up on Tuesday. Of them, 12 were settled. In six cases, it was decided to take legal help. Four cases were referred to the police and three others to the Jagratha samithis for further inquiry.


========= END OF NEWS ITEM ===============

Spare a thought for Dowry law abuse by Devi Cherian: Columinists Pioneer's

Spare a thought for Dowry law abuse by Devi Cherian: Columinists Pioneer's
 

It had been with great joy that I attended the wedding of my friend's brother two years back. So it came to me as a great shock the other day when she came to me for solace. Her sister-in-law, who was considered the Lakshmi of the house, was unfortunately driving the household completely insane. She couldn't blame her brother because it was an arranged marriage.

I wonder if we should be proud or disgusted with our younger generation of girls. Gone are those days when the in-laws harassed the new brides for dowry or just to show them who is the boss, simply on account of the boys' side being considered superior. Actually, this is not the first instance where I have ended up feeling sorry for the boy's side. Thanks to the various NGOs, women these days can really use and misuse all the power to their advantage. Being a woman I do sympathise with my sisters who are genuinely harassed by their in-laws and would want to see them get the severest of punishment. But the change that has come over the girls of today cannot be ignored. An example is the new movie Aitraaz where this young girl goes all out to use her looks and her manipulative and calculating mind to finish off a man. Well, there is a saying that "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned".

I am also dead against the interference of a girl's family once she is married, having realised that it is often the over-ambitious/possessive mother who usually sets off disturbances in her daughter's new home. Coming back to the law isn't it a fact that at least 50 per cent of harassment cases are filed by the girls who want to teach their in-laws/husband a lesson, for not having been able to get their way. After all, today's girls are more independent financially and divorce is no longer a taboo in our society. Further, they only stand to gain sympathy all around. After all, we women too know how to manipulate situations to our advantage.

Somehow we seem to have forgotten to teach our new generation the traditional lessons of patience, sacrifice, respect and family honour. It is sad, because it is always a woman who can make or break a home. I am all for women's rights, I am against dowry, I am for equal status of married partners but I am not blind to biased laws that are used by manipulative girls to torture innocent families who put honour above everything and have to pay a high price for their peace of mind.

This is the dowry system in reverse. If the boy's family refuse to yield to their demands, they are threatened to be put behind bars as the the law is on the girl's side. And shockingly, girls today are marrying for money looking for hefty alimony and property.

Coming back to my friend's case, the new bride had a history of mental ailment as a child - a fact which was not disclosed to the boy and his family. When he discovered it, he tried to take medical help to make the marriage work and also because his family believed in the sanctity of the marriage vows.

But the girl's family had other plans. Not only did they accuse the entire family of torture, money extortion etc, but have also threatened to lodge a case of dowry demand unless huge amounts of money was paid to them. Would the courts and social activists for woman's rights understand that some such cases may be just for money or for tit-for-tat. In these cases, the ones who gain are really the police in the Crime Against Women Cells or the lawyers who make the most in exploiting the underdog.

Come to think of it, is this another law like TADA which needs rethinking since under this law the whole family is put behind bars or put to ransom whichever is preferred by the girl and her family?
For more latest News Visit:
http://www.savefamily.org

Both remarried seek divorce 15 days after re marriage !, court says NO !

Both remarried seek divorce 15 days after re marriage !, court says NO !


Sunday, January 13, 2008 : 1045 Hrs

Court says 'no' to divorce after just 15 days of marriage

New Delhi (PTI): A mere 15 day-long matrimonial relationship between a couple cannot lead to the inference that the marriage has broken down irreconcilably, a court here has held while dismissing a navy official's divorce plea.

Refusing to grant divorce to the lieutenant commander, Additional District Judge Atul Kumar Garg said the husband had failed to bring on record any instance of cruelty due to which he was unable to go on with his matrimonial obligations after just 15 days.

"Fifteen days time is not enough for the respondent to adjust with a new husband (as both of them had re-married) and then it is the husband who does not want to live with her while she is willing to reside with him," the judge noted.

Observing that a fortnight was too short to arrive at the conclusion that the marriage had broken down beyond reconciliation, the court referred to the relevant provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act and refrained from dissolving the relationship.

It further considered the wife's pleas that the two had physical relationship during the 15 days after their wedding on September 19, 2002 like any other normal couple and despite her willingness to live with him, she was forcibly separated.

Noting that apart from verbal accusations, the husband had been unable to produce any witness to corroborate his charges that the woman had ill-treated and insulted him in front of his friends, the court threw out his plea.

According to the officer, now posted at Visakhapatnam, he was unable to live with his wife owing to her abusive and non-co-operating behaviour, forcing him to seek a divorce.

The wife, on the other hand, claimed that she performed all her matrimonial duties with love and affection and the man wanted to get rid of her malafidely.


http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200801131041.htm

just an allegation and they want arrest....lo and behold... democratic India ...

just an allegation and they want arrest....lo and behold... democratic India ...


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lucknow/Police_fail_to_help_dowry_victim/articleshow/2632732.cms

Police fail to help dowry victim

19 Dec 2007, 0308 hrs IST,TNN

LUCKNOW: Despite chief minister's repeated assertion of speedy action on complaints, the Hazratganj police have failed to initiate action against the accused named in a dowry harassment case. Emboldened by police laxity, the named accused, including a forest officer and his family, are allegedly threatening the complainant to roll back the case or face dire consequences.

The complainant, Shiv Shankar Tewari, told TOI "The police are not initiating any action against the accused for reasons best known to them." He further said "repeated representations to senior officers resulted in the arrest of the main accused.

However, the remaining three are moving around freely even though non-bailable warrants have been issued against them. Now judiciary is our only hope."

Shiv Shanker Tewari had lodged a complaint with the Hazratganj police alleging that his daughter Rinni (name changed) was being harassed for dowry by her husband Sarvesh Shukla - a doctor by profession and son of forest officer Vinod Shukla - of Gomtinagar. Rinni's harassment began soon after her wedding on June 2, 2005.

He alleged Sarvesh even tried to strangle Rinni with the help of his father Vinod, mother Urmila and brother Umesh after she expressed her family's inability to fulfil the dowry demand of Rs 20 lakh. Rinni, however, managed to escape from the house and informed her parents.

Subsequently, Tewari lodged an FIR with the Hazratganj police on November 23. The police were reluctant to initiate action against the accused from the very first day, till three of the accused barring Sarvesh, managed to procure a stay order on their arrest from the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Lucknow.

It was later revealed that the accused misled the court by concealing the facts related to the case while seeking a stay on their arrest. When specifics were brought to the notice of the court, the stay on their arrest was revoked.

Despite the court order, the Hazratganj police continue to give a long lease to the three accused for reasons best known to them.

When contacted, the Hazratganj police maintained that efforts were on to arrest the remaining accused. But their efforts had failed to yield results so far, nearly a week after the stay order on the arrest of the three accused was cancelled.

Women panel demands arrest of Col Rudra

Do we know of any developments on this case ?



================== news item ==================

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEK20071228224214


Women panel demands arrest of Col Rudra

Saturday December 29 2007 09:03 IST

Express News Service

Shaadi.com Matrimonial - Register for FREE

BELGAUM: The National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) of Karnataka State Unit has demanded immediate arrest of the high ranking Army officer who is charged with physically assaulting his wife for more dowry.

In the memorandum submitted to the Inspector General of Police, Belgaum, NFIW spelt out its outrage at the Camp police which has not moved against Col Sumant Rudra despite a written complaint of his wife, Annu, that she was beaten and tortured for dowry.

The police must move quickly in the cases under the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act. It said Annu is undergoing treatment at the Military Hospital for injuries inflicted on her by her husband. The memorandum has asked the police department to take up the matter with the Station Commander too.

Annu was married to Col Rudra about 2 years ago. She hails from Ambala.

================== end news item ==================

any developments on this case ? Does a marriage gift constitute dowry, asks SC

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Does_a_marriage_gift_constitute_dowry_asks_SC/articleshow/2650978.cms

Does a marriage gift constitute dowry, asks SC

26 Dec 2007, 0147 hrs IST,Dhananjay Mahapatra,TNN


NEW DELHI: Can a customary wedding gift from the father-in-law to the son-in-law, for example a buffalo in rural Punjab, be included in the definition of 'dowry' under the law?

The Supreme Court has agreed to examine this question posed by one Kulwant Singh, who has challenged his conviction under the anti-dowry provisions of the Indian Penal Code after his wife died within seven years of marriage.

The stringent dowry prohibition laws mandate the police to treat every suspicious death of a woman within seven years of marriage as a dowry death incident and register a case against her husband.

Kulwant had married Rachhpal Kaur in 1984. Four years later, she died of poisoning. Her father slapped a dowry death case against his son-in-law and the latter's parents on the ground that they were harassing his daughter for insufficient dowry.

Kulwant, employed as a conductor with a private transport company at Ludhiana, claimed that he was not even present in the village at the time of his wife's death as he was at his place of work.

Based on the evidence given by the girl's father, Sukhdev Singh, the trial court convicted Kulwant for the unnatural death as also under the dowry harassment provision of the IPC and sentenced him to seven years' rigorous imprisonment. The Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed his appeal against the conviction.

Moving the apex court through counsel Rishi Malhotra, Kulwant stated before a Bench comprising Justices A K Mathur and Markandey Katju that the lower courts erred in convicting him for dowry death as the customary gift of a buffalo by the father-in-law could not be termed as dowry.

"The HC did not appreciate the fact that the said demand of a buffalo and Rs 6,000 for the purchase of land cannot be construed as dowry demand as the same were not in connection with the marriage. Thus, it cannot come under the definition of dowry under section 2 of the Dowry Prohibition Act," the petitioner said.

After hearing the petitioner's counsel, the Bench granted bail to Kulwant and his parents while admitting the special leave petition for detailed hearing on the issue.

dhananjay.mahapatra@timesgroup.com

Court refuses to quash dowry case against NRI

http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/06/stories/2008010654390400.htm

Sunday, Jan 06, 2008

Court refuses to quash dowry case against NRI

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has refused to quash a dowry harassment case against a non-resident Indian, his mother and sister-in-law saying that it does not have the jurisdiction to allow their plea as the case was registered at Digha, a suburb of Patna, where the victim has her ancestral home.

However, Justice S. N. Dhingra transferred the case to the police station having the jurisdiction here in the Capital. He directed the Director-General of Bihar Police to send the case file to the Delhi police for further action.

The parents of the victim's husband stayed in the Capital and the marriage was also solemnised here in June 1998. The couple had stayed here for some time after the marriage before they migrated to the US.

The victim's father had filed the case at Digha against his son-in-law, his mother and the sister-in-law on the ground that the son-in-law had once visited the town and asked for some money from him for booking air tickets to the US for his daughter.

He further alleged that his son-in-law, his mother and sister-in-law tortured his daughter mentally and physically for dowry. She was tortured here in Delhi as well as in the US, the victim's father alleged.

Transferring the case to the Delhi police, Mr. Justice Dhingra said that to lodge a case at a place where the victim resides was against the established procedure. Cases are registered only where crimes are committed, he clarified.

The Sangat police station registered a case of dowry and cruelty against three persons ....

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080113/region.htm

Dowry case:

The Sangat police station registered a case of dowry and cruelty against three persons including the husband and in -laws of Virpal Kaur, daughter of Gurmel Singh, a resident of Chanarthal village under sections 498-A, 323 and 34 of the IPC. Complainant Virpal alleged that four years back, she got married to Sarabjit Singh of Gaheri Buttar village and since then she was being ill treated by her in laws for dowry.

Basic structure of the Constitution of India ...... and Article 15(3)

Comment

Once again, after Shankarananda Bharathi, the "basic structure of the constitution" is being discussed and Articles violating the "basic structure" are being challenged !!

I think it is time we attack Atricle 15(3) as breaching the "basic structure" of the constitution....

what do members feel ?


regards
Vinayak

============ news item ==========



Daily Times

Sunday, January 13, 2008

EXCLUSIVE: India's socialist constitution? — Shubhankar Dam

Socialism, it would then appear, has had no meaning in the Indian Constitution. All along, it has been an empty vessel into which any content could be poured: it was a convenient alibi to rationalise the constitutionality of the economic policies of incumbent governments at various points

The people of India, the preamble to the Indian Constitution says, are "Sovereign, Socialist and Secular". Sovereign and secular they may be. But socialist?

"Socialism", incidentally, was not a part of the original text of the Constitution. Introduced in 1976 by a constitutional amendment, socialism, for many years, remained the official rhetoric for legitimising otherwise inefficient economic and social policies. But nearly two decades after a programme of liberalisation was formally inaugurated, the Supreme Court of India (SC) was finally called upon to consider the constitutionality of deleting "socialism" from the text of the preamble.

In a Public Interest Litigation filed this week, a Calcutta-based NGO, Good Governance India Foundation, challenged the inclusion of the word in the preamble to the Constitution. Fali Nariman, counsel for the petitioner, made three submissions before the SC.

"Introducing the word 'socialist' in the Preamble," he said "breaches the basic structure of the Constitution."

Secondly, he challenged the constitutionality of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (RPA) which necessarily requires every political party to affirm their commitment to socialism. Such a commitment, Nariman argued, "binds the political parties to swear by socialism, and ends up making them hypocrites as in reality they might be following capitalism rather than socialism."

And finally, the Election Commission, he said, should derecognise political parties deviating from the principles of socialism or annul the very law that makes them hypocrites.

The SC was only partially impressed. A three-judge bench headed by the CJI refused to consider the constitutionality of deleting socialism from the preamble. "Why do you take socialism in a narrow sense defined by the Communists?" the CJI asked.

"In broader sense, socialism means welfare measures for the citizens. It is a facet of democracy." The CJI added: "It hasn't got any definite meaning. It gets different meaning in different times." However, the SC agreed to hear arguments on the point of the constitutionality of the law that makes it compulsory for every political party to abide by socialism.

The contradictions are hard to miss. If socialism means "welfare measures for the citizens", how can it be that it "does not have any definite meaning"? And if it does not have any definite meaning, what makes the CJI believe that it means "welfare measures for the citizens"?

This verbal jugglery, I would argue, is the product of an internal dissonance the CJI personally experiences.

On one hand, socialism evokes some kind of a romantic appeal of a promised land that he is unable to forego. On the other hand, the pragmatics of India's post-liberalisation policies requires the CJI to recognise the futility of harping on a socialist rhetoric. And this may partly explain why the he wants the word to exist in the text of the Constitution but not mean anything.

The omission of the word from the text of the original Constitution was not an accident: it was a deliberate choice the drafters had made. BR Ambedkar specifically opposed an amendment calling for the introduction of the word into the Constitution. The Constitution, he said, specified certain ends: strive to achieve welfare of the people, minimise inequalities of income and opportunities and provide people with an adequate standard of living. Socialism, Ambedkar thought, was a means to achieve the prescribed ends.

But it was only one of the possible means: the same ends could be achieved by other economic policies as well. Every government, he argued, should have the authority to choose its own economic policy. Specifying socialism in the text, he concluded, would stultify the choices available to any executive government to pursue its own policies in bringing about the prescribed ends.

Subsequently, the Constituent Assembly voted to disallow the amendment calling for the introduction of socialism into the text of Constitution. Unlike the CJI, the framers did believe in some meaning and they consciously chose to reject it.

However, empirically speaking, the CJI may have been correct in asserting that the word does not have any meaning. A look at some of the important decisions in the last four decades suggests that the SC has never steadfastly attributed any particular meaning to the word. In the 70s and 80s, aggressively socialist judges repeatedly invoked the rhetoric of socialism to uphold nationalisation and (incompetent) state intervention. In the late 90s, that meaning was conveniently forgotten as the SC chose to uphold deregulated policies of the "new economy". Suddenly in the 90s, socialism reinvented itself: it now meant "welfare of the citizens".

Socialism, it would then appear, has had no meaning in the Indian Constitution. All along, it has been an empty vessel into which any content could be poured: it was a convenient alibi to rationalise the constitutionality of the economic policies of incumbent governments at various points.

But no less baffling is the willingness of the SC to hear arguments about the constitutionality of the law that forces all political parties to swear by socialism. If "socialism" in the preamble to the Constitution means "welfare of the citizens", why can it not mean the same in the RPA? If the CJI is to be believed, socialism not only means "different things at different times" but it also means different things in different places. Why else would the CJI refuse to consider the deletion of the word from the preamble but agree to hear arguments about its deletion from the text of the RPA?

This debate could not have occurred at a more opportune moment. India's longest serving Marxist Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, recently acknowledged the inevitability of capital (and by corollary, the inevitability of capitalists) in pursuing economic development. And this observation comes days after Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the current Marxist CM of West Bengal, expressed his deep reservations about socialism and its relevance in the new economy.

Even the Marxists have all but abandoned their socialist obsessions. Why hold on to this appalling relic whether in the text of the Constitution or otherwise? Let it go, Mr Chief Justice.

Shubhankar Dam is an Assistant Professor of Law at the Singapore Management University School of Law. This is article is the first in a two-part series. The second article will appear tomorrow


======================================================

Petition filed in HC unites couple

WITH NO RELIGIOUS MOTIVES, AND MAINTAINING THE
RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE THAT THIS GROUP IS KNOWN
FOR .............




1. In matters of personal law, Sharia Law
applies to Muslims in India

1.1. This is a constitutional guarantee

2. As per Sharia, Hindu men cannot marry
muslim WOMEN

3. So this marriage where the wife changed her
name AND THE HUSBAND does NOT seem to have
converted is INVALID

4. Still the Honb'le court has overlooked this
fact

5. IMHO this order can be challenged - UNLESS
the husband proves that he has converted to
Islam and that the marriage was in accordance
with Sharia


regards
Vinayak


]
]
]
] Petition filed in HC unites couple
] Posted by: "scr 665"
] Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:21 pm (PST)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=CITY&file_name=city3%2Etxt&counter_img=3

] Petition filed in HC unites couple
]
] *Staff Reporter | New Delhi*
]
] The High Court on Friday united a doctor, who
] married a colleague from a different religion
] against her parents' wishes, and directed Delhi
] Police to give them security.
]
] A Division Bench comprising Justice Vikramjit
] Sen and Justice PK Bhasin gave the instruction
] on a *habeas corpus* petition filed by Sandeep
] Mawa seeking to trace the whereabouts of his
] wife who he claimed had been taken away by his
] father-in-law last year.
]
] Mawa's wife appeared in court with her father
] and the bench permitted her to stay with her
] husband. Mawa had married Sumara Shafi, who
] hails from Srinagar, as per Hindu rites in Pune
] last August.
]
] After their marriage, the couple returned to
] Mawa's house in Delhi where his parents
] accepted Sumara. She changed her name to Sumi
] Mawa.
]
] Mawa said, a few days later his wife's father
] Mohd Shafi Batkoo and three others came to his
] house and convinced his parents that they would
] solemnise the marriage as per their customs and
] traditions and took Sumara to Srinagar.
]
] Despite Mawa's repeated attempts to contact
] the Batkoos, he was neither allowed to meet his
] wife nor allowed to talk to her and said in his
] petition that he was threatened.
]

Why is Indian Tax payer money SPENT ONLY ON women ???

"...Meanwhile, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has unveiled a scheme to provide some financial assistance to needy women in distress, who have been deserted by their overseas Indian spouses, for obtaining counselling and legal services......."


US provides relief to immigrant women

10 Jan, 2008, 1845 hrs IST,Ishani Duttagupta, TNN


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Features/Special_Pages/The_Global_Indian_Takeover/In_Law_Do_we_trust/articleshow/msid-2688147,curpg-2.cms

Over the year, however, changes in rules have helped such women and now only spouses of H1B visa holders are not allowed to work. Others, such as L2 dependent visa holders, who are spouses and children of L1 work permit holders, are entitled to work themselves. Even dependents of student visas are entitled to Optional Practical Training visas which allows them to work," says Ms Peshawaria.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has unveiled a scheme to provide some financial assistance to needy women in distress, who have been deserted by their overseas Indian spouses, for obtaining counselling and legal services. Overseas Indians would include both NRIs and foreign citizens of Indian origin. The counselling and legal services would be provided through credible Indian women's organisations, Indian community associations and NGOs identified for providing such services and empanelled with Indian missions in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Gulf.

The scheme is a welfare measure to support women of Indian origin in distress, through the mobilisation of the local Indian community in the endeavour and with some financial assistance from the government. It will be available to women who have been deserted by their overseas Indian spouses or are facing divorce proceedings in a foreign country. Some of the conditions that would apply are that the woman is an Indian passport holder; the marriage has been solemnised in India; the woman has been deserted in India or after reaching overseas within five years of the marriage and divorce proceedings are initiated within five years of the marriage by the overseas Indian spouse.

The assistance will be limited to meeting the initial cost and incidental charges for documentation and filing of the case by the Indian women's organisation/NGO on the woman's behalf. Preference will be given to applicants on the basis of financial needs and assistance will be limited to $1000 per case to be released to Indian community organisations or NGOs concerned to enable them to take steps to assist the woman in documentation and preparatory work for filing the case.

The NGO will make efforts to enlist community advocates, preferably women, to extend further legal assistance, appearance in court etc on a pro bono basis. Another problem that Indian women in various countries face, when it comes to divorce, child custody and adoption is the fact that India is not yet a signatory to The Hague Convention.

"Often, Indian men who are culprits in some foreign country can take refuge in India because India is not a signatory to the Hague Convention, under which they could be deported or tried in India for crimes they may have committed elsewhere.

Once India becomes a signatory to the convention, a law commission could be set up to address legal problems faced by NRIs," says Ms Peshawaria. The Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption is a multilateral treaty designed to apply to all international adoptions between countries that ratify it.

Besides changes in the law, Ms Peshawaria also feels that preventive measures need to be adopted by government bodies and NGOs. "The importance of antecedent verification, awareness of women's matrimonial rights, maintenance rights, dowry laws and information about passport and visa procedures should be made available and regular awareness campaigns are necessary to make people aware of frauds," she says. She feels that in areas with a high population of Indians, such as US and Canada, there is a need for special guidance units providing free legal guidance to families of girls thinking of marrying NRIs or PIOs.

Matter to watch - Gender Polarization of American Politics

Matter to watch - Gender Polarization of American Politics


As in any other democracy, Gender politics is coming to fore in U.S. of America. Commentators now feel that ANGRY WOMEN saved New Hampshire for clinton. Luckily in the U.S. of A, angry women are rightly labeled thus

The news below is important for all FAMILY RIGHTS movements like ours who do NOT see world as "men" and "women" but as see the world made of "families" ....


Regards
Vinayak

================================ news item ================================



http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections08/hillaryclinton/story/0,,2239617,00.html

Hill's Angels - how angry women of New Hampshire saved Clinton

Hilary Clinton's tears over coffee that turned round poll

   
Hill's Angels - how angry women of New Hampshire saved Clinton


· Female voters enraged by coverage following Iowa rout
· Loss of composure in diner helped trigger 'perfect storm'

Suzanne Goldenberg in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Saturday January 12, 2008

The Guardian


This is where the revolution began: a cafe decorated with sunflower yellow walls and botanical prints, a default lunch spot on a day for running errands. It was here, over mid-morning coffee with undecided voters, that an exhausted Hillary Clinton came close to tears, and the women of New Hampshire - or at least those old enough to remember the struggles of the 70s or even Anita Hill's Senate testimony on sexual harassment in 1991 - decided it was time to come home.

It was not just pity, though a number of women admitted their eyes misted up at the sight of Clinton close to tears. It was not just annoyance at commentators who called Clinton "shrill", or anger at the hecklers who yelled: "Iron my shirt." Women, even those who have disliked Clinton since she arrived on the national stage in 1992, felt a sense of obligation.

"What can I say? I was a woman in the 70s and here you had a woman who has the opportunity to be the first president of the United States, and I had to decide between her and other Democrats," said Kathy Walsh, a land agent who attended the coffee morning with Clinton. "But it was tough. I just couldn't get beyond all that crap about the Clintons."

The meeting with Clinton last Monday was never meant to be an all-women gathering. Last Sunday evening aides began calling around the lists of voters who had identified themselves as undecided - women and men - to invite them to meet Clinton the next morning at a local cafe.

The voters were told they would be part of a group of 40 or 50 people. But by morning a little more than a dozen had turned up, including at least two women who had not been invited - and one of those was a Republican - and just two men. The guests included business owners, a teacher, a high school graduate working as a nanny and stay-at-home mums.

If Clinton was disappointed in the poor turnout she did not let on. She spent more than an hour answering questions, responding at such length that a number of women confessed they were bored or overwhelmed by information.

Walsh had to be dragged to the event. She is friendly with the co-chair of Clinton's campaign in New Hampshire, the state speaker, Terie Norelli, and had turned down three other opportunities to see Clinton. "I was not voting for Hillary at all. I just wasn't going with that whole Clinton thing." Even now she is adamant that it was not Clinton's tears that turned her - it was her detailed responses to questions.

But it was Clinton's response to the last question from freelance photographer Marianne Pernold Young that provided the electric moment. How did Clinton keep going? "I couldn't do it if I didn't just passionately believe it was the right thing to do," Clinton began telling Young, her voice cracking. "I have so many opportunities from this country and I just don't want to see us fall backwards as a nation. This is very personal for me."

For Sally Bassett, 46 and a stay-at-home mum, the glimpse of raw emotion was the turning point. She had been impressed by Clinton, but she added: "What struck me was that she had such a deep concern about the direction the country was going in. It just struck a chord."

But as a woman who used to work in the largely male field of engineering, she was angered by the atmospherics of the campaign. "I just couldn't believe some of the things that were said and written," she said.

Clinton was getting regularly trashed by the rightwing talk show hosts who dominate the airwaves in New Hampshire, said Arnie Arnesen, a Democratic activist who has her own talk show. That built up resentment among women.

So did churlish comments from Clinton's main rivals. In the last debate before primary day, Obama curtly told Clinton: "You're likable enough." Edwards responded to reports of her emotional moment by talking about the importance of having a strong commander-in-chief.

Then, a few hours after the coffee shop moment, two men at a Clinton rally held up placards reading: "Iron my shirt." Sexism was alive and well, Clinton responded, and the audience erupted in support.

All of that came together in the popular reaction to Clinton's momentary loss of control in the cafe. "When she started reacting like that everyone felt for her. It had been all over the press that morning that she was going to lose to Barack Obama by 12 or 13 points, so I am sure she was having a tough time," said Karen Barndollar, a supporter who happened to be at the cafe. "But no one had ever seen her like that during all the trials and tribulations with her husband before, in public she was always pretty strong. This was unusual and unexpected."

Two of Barndollar's friends, who had planned to vote for Obama, switched their votes. "I felt that Hillary needed a longer chance. I didn't want to see her knocked out of the race in a one-two punch after all of her hard work," Melissa McLeod, a Portsmouth artist, wrote in an email.

"So although I am an Obama fan I thought Hillary needed my vote and I hate the way she gets dumped on for not being feminine, then being too feminine."

Many commentators recognised Clinton's frustration. Gail Collins wrote in the New York Times: "This week, Hillary was a stand-in for every woman who's overdosed on multi-tasking."

Her colleague, Maureen Dowd, wasn't buying it. She was reminded of how Clinton has turned victimhood to her political advantage in the past. "There was a whiff of Nixonian self-pity about her choking up. What was moving her so deeply was her recognition that the country was failing to grasp how much it needs her," she wrote. "In a weirdly narcissistic way, she was crying for us. But it was grimly typical of her that what finally made her break down was the prospect of losing."

Luckily for Clinton, that's not how the women of New Hampshire saw it. Some 57% of Democratic voters were women, and she won 46% of their votes. Obama took 34%. The result was a reversal of the Iowa caucuses five days earlier when women deserted Clinton for Obama - especially those less than 24. She got just 19% of their support. The only Iowan women who stayed loyal were senior citizens; 48% of women above the age of 65 voted for Clinton.

As has been the pattern since the launch of her campaign nearly a year ago, she performed best among women with lower incomes and less education. Half of women earning between $15,000 and $30,000 a year (£8,000- £15,000) voted for her, compared with 29% for Obama. She also did well among single women.

Other factors in her win had little to do with gender. "It really was a perfect storm for Hillary Clinton," said Arnesen. New Hampshire is Clinton country and, unlike in Iowa, her machine was effective. Workers got up at 4am to get people to the polls - two hours before Obama. There are also signs that Obama supporters were complacent. As Barndollar said: "I felt that because of the Iowa result that she had become the underdog. "

After her astonishing victory, Clinton goes on to the next contest in Nevada, a week from today, and then the final showdown of Super Tuesday on February 5. What remains unclear is whether she can move women again as the campaign moves to a national battleground.

The day after New Hampshire, Clinton sent out an email to supporters saying she won because "we connected with the people". Such emotional contact was good, Clinton wrote. But, she went on: "Just as surely, we won because we made more phone calls, knocked on more doors, and put more get-out-the-vote vans on the road. We've got a lot of work to do. "

That brief flash of feeling probably saved Clinton's campaign, but she was not about to put her trust in anything so unreliable as emotion in the rounds ahead.

Girl's side people make two guys blind.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Naveen - victim_498@........

http://www.eenadu.net/story.asp?qry1=16&reccount=35

Translation:

A Guy and girl  from Maharashtra were in Love and decided to get marry.

Knowing this, the Parents and Relatives of the girl, they denied for their marry.

Both this Girl and Guy ran away to Some Place in Andhra Pradesh with the help of another Friend.

Knowing this, the Parents, and the Relatives brought back all those three and removed the eyes of the guy and his friend.
 
There were lot of incidents in the past about a guy killed a girl for not accepting the guy's love.

And based on these incidents, lot of rallies were there be women organizations.

Now what's these women organization's response on this incident.


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