Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Dec 27: A person, who claimed to have been harassed to no end by his wife, has brought together like-minded aggrieved husbands, to put an end to miseries poor males who are hounded and hunted by wives.
Dr Santosh Kumar Pothedar, who had kick-started his agitation against the anomaly faced by men and started organizing people said to be facing untold miseries heaped by their wives, has planned a walkathon from Telasanga village in Belagavi village to New Delhi, to register strong resentment at section 498A of Indian Penal Code, which he claims, has been hostile towards husbands. He wants to make these men fight for their rights.
'As per National Crimes Records Bureau', 95 percent of men face harassment from their wives. Unable to bear the agony of humiliation and persecution suffered at the hands of their spouses, men commit suicide in the country at the rate of one every nine minutes, and these figures are picked from the crimes bureau records, Santosh Kumar said, addressing a press conference held at Press Club here on Friday December 26.
'I am organizing this agitation to create awareness among men about the need to be alert against the draconian provisions of the said act. I am highly educated, but I always pray that no other husband undergoes the torture I faced at the hands of my wife,' Kumar said at the press conference, which was attended by his second wife, Geetha.
He claimed that women have been misusing provisions of section 498 as a weapon to humiliate their husbands. As per records, only three percent of cases of harassment at the hands of husbands have been found to be genuine, he averred.
He said that the men, once they are framed under the said law, suffer unexplained agony by getting bounced between courts, police, jail and hospital, whereas the wife leads a luxurious life. I have seen so many cases that are similar to mine. In my case, I succeeded in proving my innocence and getting released unscathed. However, by then invaluable years of my life had been wasted. Still, I decided to devote more time of my life for the sake of fighting against the law for the sake of husbands like me, and with the noble goal of rescuing them from the clutches of adverse legal provisions, he added.
Sr Santosh Kumar's demands include setting up of men's commission on the lines of women's commission in the country, formation of ministry for welfare of men, and demand to add section 498 B with the stipulation that in case complaints filed by wives are proved to be false, the wives should be sentenced.