The Domestic Violence Law of India - Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

As an Indian Citizen, I am extremely concerned by the Domestic Violence Act. The feminist organizations have been hailing this act and presenting it as empowerment of domestic abuse victims. However, there is no recourse for men who are victimized in their houses. The law lends itself to very easy misuse and is a gross violation of human rights of half the population. The fact is that due to this law, men will be emotionally, mentally and financially abused. As so delicately put by the concerned minister Ms. Renuka Chaudhary - "Its now men's turn to suffer".

It is clear by the actions Ms. Renuka Chaudhary, that her real agenda is to legally cripple and victimize men on behalf of radical feminists. She is vehemently opposed to making the law gender neutral. Her arguments have been the following - "If men are suffering, they should speak up" or "it is predominantly the woman who suffers". What confounds me is that if the law is made gender neutral, it does not take away ANY benefit from the real women victims of domestic abuse AND it provides help to male victims as well. The irony is that the Minister herself readily admits that the law will be misused. So, her solution? "What if this law is misused ? Every law is misused". Bravo !! So, now the Govt. is actually encouraging the misue of the law here ? Some more comments by Renuka Chaudhary - "If men behave, they have nothing to fear". But what if the men behave and the women misbehave ? Today, in urban India, when a woman does not want to be in a marriage, she promptly files a dowry case along with the divorce and legally harrasses and extorts money from the innocent husband and his family after they have been in jail for no crime of theirs. If a woman wants to walk out of a relationship, there is nothing to dissuade her from filing false cases and the lawyers actually encourage that.


There are three fundamental problems with the domestic violence law – a) it is overwhelmingly gender biased in favor of women, b) the potential for misuse is astounding and c) the definition of domestic violence is too expansive. There are degrees of domestic violence and not all conflicts in a relationship can be termed as domestic violence. This law trivializes the issue of domestic violence by including minor differences in its realm and by explicitly denying protection to half of the population.


The law in its current form is grossly inadequate to tackle the problem of domestic violence. It imposes a lot of responsibility on men, without giving them rights. On the other hand, it gives lots of rights to women without requiring them to be responsible. At the very minimum, it should be made gender neutral, offering protection to both men and women. Also, provisions for stringent punishments need to be incorporated into the law to prevent misuse. Moreover, the law needs to be made more practical by differentiating between various degrees of conflicts and by unambiguously defining what constitutes domestic violence.


The fact is domestic violence is a serious problem and a neutral and unprejudiced law is needed to protect the genuine victims of domestic violence, irrespective of gender. The perpetrators of domestic violence need to be appropriately punished and dealt with. At the same time, protection cannot be withheld from real victims for any reason whatsoever, least of all their gender. One can be certain that there is something sinister about a law, when it intimidates and instills fear in innocent people. When a person who has not committed any crime, begins to fear punishment under the provisions of a law, it is not a law anymore – it is state sponsored terrorism.


Nishant Agrawal

California, USA

My blog - savemarriages.wordpress.com

Note to the Editor - Most of the voices heard on this topic are of feminists and of well meaning people who do not understand the law completely and are just taken in by the propaganda of feminists, without even realizing it. Empowering women is a noble goal but empowering women by victimizing men is gross injustice. Please read the law and its implications at presentindia.blogspot.com. I hope that you will publish my concerns in your esteemed newspaper.

PS - I belive this issue is of paramount importance to the health and well being of the society and the country in general. I have seen many of my innocent collegaues from IITs been victimized by the dowry law and it completely destroys the young man, his ambitions and his outlook towards life.

Abt me
I am a proud Indian and have been fortunate enough to be have attended the best educational institutes of India (including stints in IT-BHU, IIT-Bombay and IIM-Ahmedabad). I have worked with the topmost companies in India and abroad (Hindustan Lever Ltd., Microsoft etc.). Lately, I have become an activist for gender equality and justice. Currently, I work for one of the most beloved internet companies in the world and live in California, USA