Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

Time	Event
11:22a	Liabilities for the man and relief for the woman !!! Liabilities for the man and relief for the woman !!! Blogger's comments : Does the Domestic Violence act spell additional doom for men in India ?. This act provides relief ONLY to the women. No reliefs are provided for men. What about men who get cheated ? what about women who blackmail men ? Who will bell those cats ? ==============News item ================ Man fined for abuse of live-in partner. First-Ever Ruling Under New Domestic Violence Act News item by Dhananjay Mahapatra & Abhinav Garg | TNN New Delhi: The first-ever ruling came recently under the new Domestic Violence Act asking the man to pay a Rs 1.5 lakh compensation to his livein partner for walking out on her after holding out hopes of marriage. This ruling, delivered by city magistrate Jagdish Kumar last week, is on grounds of emotional violence, not physical abuse. It also marks the legal recognition of a certain responsibility in relationships too as it deals with a live-in arrangement between two adults. The new Act provides for civil liabilities for the man and relief to the woman abused — physically or emotionally — during the time they lived together. While this is aimed at guarding the woman against gender vulnerability, some legal experts also believe that it may tilt the balance unfairly against the man as it could open him up to prosecution if he walks out of a soured livein relationship. The case relating to magistrate Jagdish Kumar's ruling is this. The lady stated in her complaint that she came in contact with Amitava Mukherjee in 1999 when he was working as the country director of Action Aid India. In January-February 2003, Mukherjee offered her an assignment with UNESCAP while making her believe that he was no longer living with his wife and had already sought to annul his marriage. Towards the end of April 2003, she was asked to move to Bangkok and work for UNESCAP. Around May 2003, Mukherjee invited her to stay with him. Believing that he has separated from his wife, she started living with him, the woman said in her complaint filed through counsel Aparna Bhat. She also talked about her pregnancy and the ``deceitful manner'' in which he made her drink some medicine for abortion, which led to first signs of strain in their relationship. Mukherjee, on one pretext or the other, avoided marrying her and after three years into the live-in relationship walked out of it. The complainant alleged that on October 26 last year, when she was visiting Delhi, she got a call from him, saying that he has vacated the Bangkok house and shifted their belongings to another house but did not divulge its address. Mukherjee, defending himself, denied every allegation and termed the complaint as a tactic to blackmail him and extort money. BREACH OF TRUST The complainant says Amitava Mukherjee, claiming to be separated from his wife, invited her to stay with him He avoids marrying her and after three years, walks out of the live-in relationship Magistrate says Mukherjee's volte-face after putting `sindoor' in her `maang' means emotional abuse http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Man_fined_for_abuse_of_live-in_partner/articleshow/2067990.cms or http://tinyurl.com/2a45ev (1 Comment | Comment on this)
12:03p	Open the Pandora's box !! Open the Pandora's box !! ‘Domestic violence could be both physical & emotional’ Blogger's comments : Who defines what is emotional violence ? Who sets the boundaries ? each and every judge will start interpreting "emotional abuse" in his / her own way and we will have utter confusion. Is a joke an emotional abuse, Is a jibe an emotional abuse ? Is a genuine decision to move away from a NON WORKING relationship emotional abuse ? who draws the line and where ? ========= news item =========== New Delhi: Amitava Mukherjee, the first person to be indicted under the new Domestic Violence Act, said he has been happily married for the last 25 years, while casting aspersions on the character of the complainant. He said that he had kept his wife and family posted about the constant harassment he faced at the hands of the woman who followed him everywhere. After hearing both sides and scrutinising the evidence, the magistrate confirmed that the woman and Mukherjee had a live-in relationship that came under the purview of the Domestic Violence Act. He said: ``From the perusal of documents placed on record, the petitioner and the respondent have lived in a rented room in tourist hostelcum-programme centre, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi, as well as in Bangkok. It is my considered view that petitioner as well as respondent lived together in a shared household.'' Terming that domestic violence could be physical as well as emotional, the magistrate said: ``The petitioner has stated in her petition that the respondent has admitted her as his wife and applied `sindoor' in her `maang'. This is emotional abuse by the respondent towards the petitioner.'' ``From the material placed on record, it is my considered view that petitioner is subjected to domestic violence as defined under Section 3 of the Act,'' the magistrate said in his 11-page order. On the compensation, he said: ``Keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case and social status of both the parties, I deem it appropriate to grant Rs 75,000 for food, clothes, medicines and other basic necessities and further household expenses as Rs 50,000 and other miscellaneous as Rs 25,000.'' Mukherjee has the option of complying with the magistrate's order or going on appeal before a higher court. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Domestic_violence_could_be_both_physical__emotional/articleshow/2067927.cms or http://tinyurl.com/2zn9dy ======== end of news item ============ (1 Comment | Comment on this)

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