Aug 6, 2010
A group promoting cause of family harmony and gender equality has strongly opposed the proposed Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill due to its 'anti-husband' component.
With this proposed law, Union Minister for Law and Justice Veerappa Moily had violated his own promise of making laws gender neutral, Mr P Suresh, President of National Family Harmony Society (NFHS), which is working in support of the 'harassed husbands', said in a press release here today.
The bill, recently introduced in Rajya Sabha, dealt with 'irretrievable breakdown of marriage' and was against the interests of husbands, he alleged.
''NFHS registers its strong protest against certain section of the Marriage Law Amendment Bill, which according to us again expose the husband to the whims and fancies of his wifes decision and lead to this law being misused in collusion with the other gender laws of India like section 498A IPC and the DV Act,'' he said.
The 'irretrievable breakdown' ground should not be viewed as merely adding yet another clause to section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act. Rather, it should be viewed as a disruptive change to the structural edifice of family law in India, he said.
Irretrievable breakdown changes the terms of divorce from a 'fault' basis to a 'no-fault' basis. That means either of the two adults in a marriage can unilaterally terminate it for any reason they please, he alleged.
''Government-backed abuse against Indian husbands, Indian Gender laws in particular, are so badly drafted that they outrightly exclude the possibility of a woman being the cause of any sort of marital discord,'' he opined.
He said some sections of the Bill were in clear violation of Article 15 of the Constitution that prohibits discrimination against any citizen on grounds of religion and sex.
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