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Steel secretary Aruna Sharma hits out at ‘narrow approach’ to women’s rights, says men are being falsely trapped in judicial maze and losing faith.

New Delhi: Aruna Sharma, a top woman IAS officer in the central government, has lashed out against what she calls the “narrow approach in the name of women’s rights”. She believes this has led to a rampant misuse of law by women, asserting that such “activism” is resulting in men losing faith in the judiciary and the institution of marriage.

Sharma, secretary in the Union ministry of steel, says the judiciary unduly favours women, leading to men being falsely trapped in an endless judicial maze.

Suggested remedies

In a bid to attract attention to the issue, Sharma wrote a letter on 31 August to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, urging it to take remedial measures to restore balance in key legal provisions.

“The judiciary and policy makers cannot be prejudiced,” she wrote. “It has to ensure that mechanisms are there for imparting proper justice, (an) innocent is not harassed, and heavy penalty (is given) to those who harass and try to frustrate the judicial system by using all tactics to delay justice and resort to extortion,” she wrote.

The system is creating a “modern-day dacoit”, she added.

She went on to demand a definition for “wife”, as she believes there are numerous cases of women allegedly framing men under cases of dowry and domestic violence.

“Define ‘wife’,” she wrote. “Just marrying, making life hell for a couple of years, and ensuring that no child is born cannot be a claim for lifelong maintenance when the boy will have to support his new family and children. Such women only use matrimonial home as a parking place, and then to extort to support their wayward lifestyles.”

She went on to add: “Women select a boy who is from (a) good family (who is) earning well, move to marry him, make life hell for a couple of years, ensure no child is born, walk out, and shoot multiple cases under domestic violence, (Section) 498A (of the Indian Penal Code), Section 125 (of the CrPC) for maintenance, (Section) 406 (IPC) to demand jewellery given by the boy’s family, so on and so forth.”

On the issue of marital rape, Sharma wrote: “It (marital rape) is having intercourse when one of the partners unwilling, it is possible by both genders — and it is word of one against another, what are we trying to hint at? If the woman is undergoing harassment, she can separate from the partner.”

While Sharma supported maternity leave as she believes women are “blessed by nature”, on menstrual period leave, she said: “This is again taking (place) in the garb of rights… If women employees want equity, (they) cannot be unpredictable in attending office in (the) name of period leave… this is something women working even as labour have been managing from time immemorial. Tomorrow at senior level, there could be menopause leave that is long term, even as (a) woman boss, it is definitely unacceptable.”

If these steps are not taken, the judicial space will be “occupied by crooks” and boys will continue “losing faith in (the) institution of marriage, resorting to live-in relationship or surrogate children, and leaving India,” she wrote.

“I think the time has come to speak out and ensure justice is (meted) to not only wronged girls, but also (to) wronged boys,” she concluded.

Not vocal in the past

Sharma, who is a 1982 batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, had been secretary, electronics & IT, before a bureaucratic shuffle in 2016 sent her to the steel ministry. Given her good reputation as a senior bureaucrat, she was unanimously elected as the first woman president of the Madhya Pradesh IAS Officers’ Association in 2011.

While she is not known to have been publicly vocal on issues relating to gender justice in the past, Sharma has, in her letter, proposed a point-wise agenda to change what she believes is a deeply-skewed situation.

Officials in the Women and Child Development Ministry confirmed receiving the letter. However, they said no action may be taken, since the ministry often receives suggestions in the area of gender justice.

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