Women are just as likely to commit domestic violence as men. But it is the latter who end up as aggressors almost always. A group of young men are out to explode this ‘myth' about women alone being the victims.

Under the banner of Save Indian Family Foundation, A.P. Chapter (SIFFAP), they launched a month long campaign to educate people about how domestic violence problem was misrepresented. They urged the government to reform the present discriminatory laws and make gender neutral provisions.

“Indian laws that claim to prevent domestic violence are actually promoting it by denying protection to men against any form of domestic violence,” said Krishna Prasad, coordinator, SIFFAP.

56,000 suicides

He told presspersons here that every year over 56,000 married men committed suicide on account of verbal, emotional, economic, physical abuse and legal harassment. About 1.23 lakh men suffered every year due to foisting of false cases against them. The month of October was being observed as ‘Domestic violence awareness' month in India to make it an international event for all men's rights and fathers' rights.

Close to 15 laws addressed domestic violence against wives but there was no law to protect husbands, children and their family members. Domestic violence industry stakeholders like women's organisations, law enforcement machinery, legal fraternity were responsible for spreading myths and false statistics about domestic violence, breaking families and siphoning funds in the name of women's empowerment from national and international agencies, he said.

‘Media biased'

He deplored that media coverage was also too often biased. Whenever a young woman committed suicide it was reported as dowry death while a young man's suicide was attributed to financial or family problems. He demanded the Domestic Violence Act to be made gender neutral and the government should revisit the ‘infamous' IPC section 498 A as directed by the Supreme Court. The SIFFAP would observe October 26 when DV Act came into being as black day.