What Should Be My Stand in Court
What Should Be My Stand in Court
What Should Be My Stand in Court
How about: “I’m innocent! Let the law take its course.”
Apparently for 80-95% of Indian husbands, that’s too much complication. They want to have a
‘stand’ which will achieve the following for them:
1. If they are fearing IPC 498a, then anticipatory bail should be easy to get. (Note: after
Jul 2014 SC judgment, it appears arrests have drastically come down so this concern
should reduce)
2. If they already have maintenance case filed on them, then they should be able to pay zero
or very low maintenance.
3. If wife is simply threatening at home, then they should be able to safeguard themselves
and parents (parents are old and sick).
4. If they still have some happy memories of married life, they want the option that a door
should be left open for wife to come back. After all, she is nice, it’s only her parents
which are instigating her!
These are the actual kind of ‘stands’ taken by the husbands most of the time:
1. They have a 498a or DV petition with serious allegations filed against them, yet they go
ahead and tell in family court and in front of mediators that they want wife back! Cho
Chweet. Bye bye to maintenance/3 years in jail, welcome back to wife! Actual Result:
Interim maintenance awarded to wife, she doesn’t come to court to give her DV case
evidence, 498a goes on for 7-10 years.
2. They play smart and keep shifting their ‘stand’ just like their wife. Like if wife has
filed 498a or DV case, made contradictory statements, and now she is also asking to
come back, they also try to play the same ‘shifty’ tactics hoping it will get them some
advantage in courts. Actual Result: Interim maintenance awarded to wife, she doesn’t
come to court to give her DV case evidence, 498a goes on for 7-10 years.
3. Especially in Delhi. Our husband pays 5-10 lakh to secure anticipatory bail in 406
case. He hopes to prove wife’s charges of him keeping her jewellery/valuables as false.
Actual Result: Interim maintenance awarded to wife, she doesn’t come to court to give
her DV case evidence, 498a/406 goes on for 7-10 years.
When the end result is the same by taking all these so called ‘stands’, why do so many of us
adopt these? Here are some propositions based on observations, possibilities, and hypotheses.
1. We think the lawyer who is giving advice to us is like a doctor. Read the post on how to
manage lawyers.
2. We are escapists and cowardly people basically, who want to do a ‘compromise’ rather
than face a difficult situation. After all, a few people from England were able to control
most of India for close to 2 centuries without much of a fight! Why? It’s the C-word:
compromise.
3. We don’t know what is right from wrong. Anything which gets the job done quickly
must be right! Pay the traffic cop Rs 50 without challan instead of Rs 300 with challan
for breaking a traffic rule. That becomes the attitude in everything. After a while the
traffic cops learn the same tricks and stop us even if we haven’t broken any laws.
Everyone deserves a break!
4. Taking a stand is very simple, but for 90% of folks it’s almost impossible to explain.
Probably because all of us have grown in a mai-baap culture where pleasing the masters
is important, rather than getting to truth, meritocracy etc.
5. How about: “I’m innocent! Let the law take its course.”
6. 1. “Let them prove the DV allegations if they want maintenance under DV.“
7. 2. “Let them prove they have left the home with a just cause if they claim maintenance
under CrPC 125.”
8. 3. “Let them prove cruelty which will drive a woman to suicide to prove 498a
allegations.“
9. 4. “Let them prove serious cruelty by husband if they have filed a divorce case.”
For tackling the judiciary, the best course as of now is not really anything about procedure of courts or
judicial mechanisms, but about spending time and energy improving yourselves in other parts of the
game. A lot of this post will cover those things.
Knowing yourself
So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred
battles without a single loss.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.
Now we start on something more important than knowing the System, which is knowing
yourself. The logically oriented among us may notice that Mr Sun Tzu wisely left out the
possible combination where a person knows enemy but not knows oneself. I mean that would be
absurd, like a chess grandmaster knowing all the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, but not
knowing own strengths and weaknesses! He (most grandmasters are men, and it’s not because
of patriarchy!) wouldn’t have reached thus far and become a chess grandmaster if he didn’t
know own strengths!
Unfortunately, I see still that many people fall into this trap of focussing too much on the
wife/in-laws, and thinking about what counter case etc. they can file on them, blissfully being
unaware that they don’t have any preparation or strength to follow up on it. They say in an
unsure tone, “Right now she only has filed cases, if I also file a divorce case on her maybe they
will also feel harassed”. Maybe, or maybe she could file one more maintenance case on you
under HMA 24 apart from existing CrPC 125 or DV case. Then our man will call the MRAs
again asking, “she is already getting maintenance in one case, can she ask for maintenance
again”. Well, only if you had listened to our advice on not to file divorce!
First of all a clarification that I never like to use the word ‘victim’ for any person suffering false cases and
men’s rights issues; if I use the word ‘victim’ it is always in quotes. Some activists may give you better
hearing if you are using words like ‘victim’ and ‘harassed’, I like to ‘help’ those with names and attitudes
of the kind – ‘terminator’, ‘fighter’, ‘warrior’ etc. There are reasons behind avoiding word ‘victim’ which
I will detail in another post sometime.
1. The issues like separate living by wife, unnecessary fights over almost non-issues, threat of legal
cases, actual maintenance/DV case, or even 498a/406 case or happen within 1-2 years of
marriage. The order and combination of above can vary. But one of them at the least will
happen and even if no legal case is filed, at least the wife going and living separate in her
parents’ house for more than few months, and maybe several times, will definitely happen.
Take it as warning sign that marriage breakup is a high probability in future. DO NOT listen to
anyone’s advice that having a child will help the relationship. Having a child will give them a
weapon to later lay claim on your property and whatever else and public and society’s sympathy
automatically shifts to the mother.
2. The most common age group of men is between 28-32 years of age, or better way would be to
take it as 1-2 years after usual marriage age in your region/state. So if men marry around 28-30
years in your state, expect most cases within 30-32 years in that state.
1. The issues like separate living by wife, unnecessary fights over almost non-issues, threat of legal
cases, actual maintenance/DV case, or even 498a/406 case or happen within 1-2 years of
marriage. The order and combination of above can vary. But one of them at the least will
happen and even if no legal case is filed, at least the wife going and living separate in her
parents’ house for more than few months, and maybe several times, will definitely happen.
Take it as warning sign that marriage breakup is a high probability in future. DO NOT listen to
anyone’s advice that having a child will help the relationship. Having a child will give them a
weapon to later lay claim on your property and whatever else and public and society’s sympathy
automatically shifts to the mother.
2. The most common age group of men is between 28-32 years of age, or better way would be to
take it as 1-2 years after usual marriage age in your region/state. So if men marry around 28-30
years in your state, expect most cases within 30-32 years in that state.
This is the first phase of marriage for the wives on a mission. Yes, it’s a mission for them, like a
proverbial vish-kanya they have been trained (or maybe lack of training whichever you prefer) to
act as poison in a relationship.
For those couples where parents don’t stay with them due to life in different city, the mission is
simpler which is to train the husband to be a slave. Below are the typical characteristics found.
Note that this is applicable to 80% of cases we see, there will always exceptions especially in
longer marriages which I will detail in another post sometime. Based on my assessment, longer
marriage is anything more than 4 years with no major separate living in between. The patterns
and incidents become much different in them. But for all shorter marriages of 1-2 (or even 3
years with long periods of separate living in between), below is a good indication of what to
expect. It is completely routine stuff, YOU are not the only one!
Leave it to the imaginative minds of the self-loathing and the feminist types, because even when
there are no issues in life they can dream about and create an issue almost out of thin air. It is
all pre-planned with goals like the following:
1. Cut-off husband from his parents and other relatives. Basically, he should subconsciously forget
about his own parents and previous life and now start to think of wife and her parents as her
own.
2. Over a course of time, due to such constant bickering and negative behaviour, the husband will
either learn the C-word called Compromise and adjust to the new reality, or if he tries to keep
contact with his parents, then other techniques will be used. The most common one is that wife
will find some excuse to go to her parents’ house and she won’t come back.
1. If parents of husband are living in same house, then favourite modus operandi of 498a
sisterhood will be to create some issue where there was none about, specifically about the
mother. The usual demonization in Indian society of mother-in-law or saas also helps in all this
process. This is what I like to call the acclimatization phase. In this phase, the husband and his
parents are getting trained to accept the bahu/daughter-in-law with her warts and all, only they
haven’t realized yet that it is going to be bahu with warts and warts only and nothing much else
to look forward to
2. Creating some trouble or ruckus about husband’s parents, but not so much that they feel
totally alienated. They should feel harassed and uncomfortable staying in the same house,
that’s the whole idea.
3. Refusal or creating problems doing any housework, even when she is a HOUSEWIFE! Side note:
“Hey, that’s insulting, we should call them homemakers”. Sure we will try to call them that
when they start creating rather than destroying homes! And BTW, men who stay at home are
also called househusbands. So calling women housewives is all about equality!
Here the main problem for the feminist club is that they don’t have the usual enemy number 1
called in-laws to complain about. And their main intention of the matriarch types always is not
to alienate the husband immediately but train him over time to be like a pet dog and a loyal slave
to the mistress.
1. Since it becomes difficult to create an issue about husband’s parents when they are not living
there, they have to resort to innovative ways to create issues. So it could be about some
ceremony after marriage which has to be performed at either husband’s or wife’s house. One
common technique is to try to create an issue about some imaginary oversight or imagined
insult being meted out to wife’s parents by husband’s parents. Usually at such early state of
marriage, the husband’s parents have no inkling about the nefarious intentions of their in-laws
and they tend to acquiesce in how the situation proceeds in interest of keeping peace. Also, lot
of people have this idea that marriage is between the couple and if they are happy together,
then they should not worry about the relatives and in-laws. Boy that is wrong! The game has
already begun.
2. Another common technique is that if the mother of husband comes to stay with the couple for a
few days, then create a huge issue out of nothing and complain to husband about his mother’s
behaviour or what she said. The idea is to tell both husband and his mother that if the two of
them are not under the same roof, it will be better for everyone! Usually the message is picked
up rapidly by the mother/father of husband and they try not to visit them often.
3. Within first 3-6 months of marriage, create some incident where the parents of wife get a
chance to complain to the husband’s parents about whatever issue has been created.
4. Basically, keep letting the husband know that the princess is NOT HAPPY YET! Depending on the
subtlety or coarseness of husband’s in-laws, they also pitch in from time to time and don’t have
any problem calling him directly and telling him about the issues their daughter is facing.
5. Your in-laws will be almost encouraging their daughter to come back if she is having any
issues.
6. The wife will be having regular communication with her mother over mobile phones. It won’t be
of the harmless type like how to cook so and so dish, but more of the kind to share the results of
today’s battle against husband. Any coincidence that the false cases increased rapidly after year
2000 with rapid increase in both mobile communication and people’s incomes?
Meaning of Rapprochement:
In simple English, this is the Bring back your wife phase. I especially like the fact that one of
the definitions is also used for relations between countries. Often time, that’s exactly how
husband-wife relations are reduced to, as if negotiations between countries are going on!
This is the most interesting ‘phase’ for married men who are married into feminist/matriarchal
families. Since the marriage is new and possibly the man has at least some happy memories
(check the honeymoon photos); even if wife has gone to mother’s (yes mother) place more than
once, the husband and his parents/relatives keep hope that it is just teething troubles of a new
marriage, and eventually things will sort out. They probably have seen such situations maybe
few decades back how a wife was “brought back” and it used to work out more often that not.
So especially the older generation takes it in a stride and is quite hopeful the daughter-in-law will
eventually turn out to be a bahu-rani one day, and arrival of grand-kids are not too far either.
What really happens when the husband goes to wife’s place is one of the following things:
1. Sometimes he is not even allowed to call or communicate with the wife. So basically he is
treated like a beggar for trying to re-establish communication with his own wife!
2. The wife’s party put conditions on him, tells him what are the wrong things he has been doing,
insult or disrespect him in other ways; and our man tolerates all that because the elders behind
him have given him the confidence that these are the teething troubles and will sort out.
3. Sometimes conditions are put like: “your parents have to stay separately”. “Take a rented
house where you and wife can stay away from parents”. Usually such demands are considered
harmless by the elders and samaj and so our husband takes a separate house and tries to live a
happy life from thereon at least. Cho chweeeet…
4. At the very least, the husband is reminded that he has to keep his wife happy. The subtle
undertone always is that as of now the wife is not happy. That is a fundamental and permanent
feature/technique used by feminist/matriarchal husbands. He has always be made to think that
wife is not (fully) happy, and to remind him of that simple techniques of wife leaving for her
parents’ house are used, and at the extreme wife attempts suicide but gets saved, because the real
intention is to disturb the husband rather than actually commit suicide. I will outline all these in
a separate post on feminist/matriarchal families in India. Oh, they are so predictable!
This reminds me of dialogue from movie Sholay, even though it there was no husband-wife
involved in that.
Gabbar Singh (talking to his men who came back defeated): “Tumne kya socha tha, sardar bahut
khush hoga, shabashi dega!”
That my friends, is the situation husbands too face. The dream of peaceful married life is not so
easy to achieve, because just like Gabbar Singh in Sholay, the standards they (wife and her
feminist brigade) want you to achieve to make them happy are almost impossible to achieve.
See the picture below and try to see if you can live up to that standard. If yes, go ahead and live
your ‘happily married’ life, and stop reading further. Else read on…
This is the phase which arrives, usually within first 1-2 years of marriage, when wife has left for
her parental home one too many times. Husband or his parents consult a lawyer, and the lawyer
give the sage advice to send a legal notice to wife to come back, or even better, file a RCR
(Restitution of Conjugal Rights) under Section 9 of Hindu Marriage Act.
Now that things are going into legal arena, let me introduce the heavily graphical/flow chart like
depiction on the problems men face when things go legal in married life. I made it few years
back for another initiative which didn’t take off, but the diagram looks as valid today as it was
then, so here it goes:
Even if the wife has filed a DV petition with standard template statements saying “I was not
given food”, “I was locked in the bathroom”, our simple and gentle minded folks think that there
is a chance to save the marriage. Right!
Hope lives forever! Or probably the simple reason is that for most Indians marriage is a once-in-
a-lifetime thing, so the alternatives of two or more marriages as in the West where people keep
experimenting throughout life about finding the right person does not seem like such a bright
idea!
One of the simplest and best stands possible is defined as a simple principle of law itself, so it’s
not even that we are inventing something complex here. It’s called: Innocent until proven guilty.
Many of accused men (and families) under IPC 498a/406/376/DV Act seem to think that the
principle of innocent until proven guilty doesn’t apply to them! What else is the reason that they
try so hard to prove innocence to police, CAW, or even own advocates when facing false
allegations by the wife and gang? Why can’t we just keep quiet and let the law take it’s own
course? Read the full post on Innocent until proven guilty at link below.
http://menrightsindia.net/2014/10/innocent-until-proven-guilty-is-the-law-use-it.html
100% of the callers to MRAs have the type of in-laws where the mother is the dominant person
in the household. In other words, it is a feminist-ruled or matriarch ruled family. I said 100%,
not 99.9%. Well actually once or twice I have seen somewhat different situations but they are
extremely rare and don’t fall in the realm of men’s rights violations but more into unfortunate
situations of life. So when it comes to men’s rights violations, it can be safely said that 100% of
calls are from men who married into a feminist family. How’s that about understanding your
environment.
By now, it should be clear that I am not a fan of feminism. Let me go further. I believe that
patriarchy is the right model for family and social organisation at least at this stage of human
evolution. That’s taking a stand. I am willing to defend my stand, debate on national TV if need
be, or write articles on it.
A basic principle of criminal law is that any anyone accused of crime is innocent until he is
proven guilty.
Indian public seems to be aware of it when it comes to voting for politicians accused of multiple
crimes including many a time of murder and rape.
But many of accused men (and families) under IPC 498a/406/376/DV Act seem to think that the
principle of innocent until proven guilty doesn’t apply to them! What else is the reason that they
try so hard to prove innocence to police, CAW, or even own advocates when facing false
allegations by the wife and gang? Why can’t we just keep quiet and let the law take it’s own
course?
What would be the reason that people think that the politicians must be innocent, but the criminal
complaint filed by ‘bahu’ or daughter-in-law/wife must be right?
1. We have double standards for ‘normal’ public like us, versus our ‘mai-baap’ or
godfathers who are the the people in power whether politicians or celebrities. They take care of
us, so that’s more than enough and we need not look at their moral behaviour etc.
2. We actually have no trust in the animals called law and justice. Whoever is strong can make
use of the law, and politicians are strong and so they are above it, and we are weak so we have to
suffer the false allegations. It is actually in same theme of ‘mai-baap’ mind-set. Frequently, the
callers say that their wife/in-laws are powerful or connected, when in fact according to my
assessment, they are basically small time people and pimps. But the point remains that people
are afraid not of the law, but of the powerful/connected people. The powerful/connected
people can even file false cases, and the weak can’t defend against them. So in reality, they are
saying that we are all living in a jungle raj. Law/justice must be just nice concepts not applicable
in India.
3. If the income tax department (why can’t I think of any new analogy!) puts an unfair demand
of tax which is not applicable as per law, we will fight that with full vigour and conviction, but if
the wife/in-laws file cases against us, we are half-dead even before the case begins! Fighting the
income tax department: “very good”, fighting wife’s allegations: “what a loser!”
The bottom-line is that if you walk down the road, no one can say by looking at your face whether you
are accused under 498a/406, or whatever IPC section. It’s all in your own head. Being accused is not
the same as being guilty, this is something to learn from the politicians. Especially if you voted for one
who had been accused too.
That’s what I call a masterstroke. Wife alleges domestic violence, hit back with allegation that
she is stopping you from serving your mother, and motherland! That can dispel negativity in
minds of most people, because most Indians have a soft and venerated feeling towards mothers,
and for those who are bit more wife-oriented – maybe loyalty and service to motherland will
melt their heart! You can’t go wrong with that 1-2 combo strike!
One of the most famous dialogues in Indian cinema is about loyalty and service to one’s mother.
From movie Deewar (1975):
Vijay (Amitabh Bachan): Aaj mere paas paisa hai, bangla hai, gaadi hai, naukar hai, bank
balance hai, aur tumhare paas kya hai?
Translation:
Vijay:Today I have got money, a bungalow, car, servants, bank balance … what do you have?
Which brings me to the lesson which can be learnt by husbands from Mr Bharti’s Jedi like
strikes in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles put in his path by wife. What positive
things are you doing in life, or what is the positive stand you are taking?
In practical terms, many husbands who face false DV and other cases from wife are doing just
the opposite. They are willing to let go of parents/mother, and take a separate house under
wife’s pressure. Some are pressurized to take a house near wife’s parents’ house. Ultimately,
the onslaught never stops, and one day the man faces the same DV and other cases what Mr
Bharti is facing as of now. So what’s the point of doing all that sacrifice and drama, if the end
result is going to be the same? Once a man bows down to patently unreasonable demands, it is
never ending saga of frustration and humiliation.
There is one thing which husbands facing false cases need to learn from politicians. It is grit in
the face of obstacles, and constantly seeking positive actions in the midst of negativity around.
Many Indian politicians have multiple criminal cases filed against them. They never stop and
lament for a moment – “What will happen to my parents. We have never had police come to our
house in our family ever!” Instead their response is more of a conqueror and they declare
confidently that all these criminal cases are filed as political vendetta by political opponents.
More the criminal cases, better the politician since it’s a sign that there are many opponents
jealous of his success and they want to bring him down by filing false cases! In fact, Mr
Somnath Bharti has himself been in limelight for the wrong reasons for his alleged previous
skirmish with African women:
Now many men will be asking: What positive thing I can bring to my fight? I am only a XYZ, in
so and so profession. I have old parents etc etc.
How about dignity, and self-respect?
----------------------
Now here I am going to disclose a secret to the whole world, a secret so sensitive and powerful
that if your opponent camp or their advocates came to know that I was about to disclose it, they
would have paid me money not to disclose.
By disclosing this secret, the divorce and DV industry stands to lose several thousand crores of
business done every year by filing of fake 498a, DV, divorce, maintenance cases.
The judges have always known this secret, but instead of staying neutral they have used that
knowledge to create a fear in mind of public to subtly or not so subtly steer them towards the
compromise route. In a way, they are being part of the divorce/DV/false cases industry. They
will have the ready excuse that it’s the parties who do the compromise, but who is the one who
grants anticipatory bail after large cash deposit made by husband in IPC 406 cases, and asks
those accused of 498a: “Do you have a compromise”? It’s the judges themselves.
Let me expand that a bit: You (the accused in a false case), do not need (like need to eat) to do
the C-word.
For those facing false cases, while it is easy to put the blame for first marriage fiasco on multiple
parties: on in-laws, on biased laws, on lawyers, on horoscopes, on lack of judgment by
parents/relatives etc; for second marriage there is usually no one to take the blame but the
husband!
The only right way for a second marriage is this: defeat the opponents both legally and
psychologically, and come out with head held high. After that, whatever you do is like a fresh
start rather than a compromise after compromise.
Many have done second marriages already, and they didn’t even take 5 years. In fact, it’s
surprising that those who care little about the false cases and are patient about them get rid of
them within few years, but those who worry a lot and want to get rid of them quickly are unable
to do it, or able to do it only after doing the ‘compromise’! Irony of life? I don’t think so.
Always focus on pointing and proving falsity in their allegations, that’s very important.
Because they can say that your brain disorder etc is a later incident… how does it falsify their
allegations on you?
Indians in general try to rely on emotions and sympathy factors to get justice, but justice in
courts is purely based on evidence and law, and in general a man crying for help is termed a loser
than eligible for sympathy or help.
If your wife is working/earning and if she files a matrimonial case like divorce, you can claim
maintenance under HMA section 24 citing your medical condition, need for expenses etc
You can join our groups to be prepared. Spare us the “political background” thing. Everyone
says their in-laws are powerful but they themselves are weak! How is it possible that all
politically connected and powerful people are marrying down, when it is a well-known fact that
women tend too marry up?
498A is bull shit. Either get an anticipatory bail, or if you are prepared to go to jail for few days
do so and get a bail afterwards.
Important thing is she bringing evidence, for all the cruelty she is alleging, IT IS USUALLY
THE INTENT OF THE OTHER PARTY THAT THE CASE NEVER GETS TO HEARING, &
A COMPROMISE IS WORKED OUT BEFORE. It so turns out (by default ironically) that your
agreeing to mutual divorce is taken as a admission of guilt.
Stand your ground that you are not guilty, and neither of your family members are guilty. If she
has taken her accusation too far by accusing some one who is a distant relative (sisters husband
living abroad), then she has to give a cogent argument about how she was offended.
If we don’t settle the 498a case, what will people and society think of us? Well, what will
they think when after your settlement and mutual divorce, when you try to find your second
bride — that you are the innocent divorcee and your wife was the cruel monster? No my friend,
by paying up you are being part of the system which believes that woman is always abla-naari
and the tormented, and husband (and in-laws) are always the greedy, cruel, inhuman monsters.
By paying up and settling, you can rest assured you can always face a lingering suspicion
from society; and if by any chance your second wife and her parents are a little shrewd, they can
play up on this weakness by keeping you under their thumb for your whole life. I can say this
with confidence having seen many cases where the husband went into worse trouble in second
marriage after paying up in the first marriage. And conversely, the evidence is also good that
those who married second time after fighting it out and getting honourably acquitted in 498a are
not facing problems in the second marriage.
A criminal case against us? We are from respectable family. Well so were all the freedom
fighters who went to jail for many years and multiple times at that, and they only seemed to gain
respect after that! And conversely, you will be voting for politicians in next elections knowing
fully well that many of the MPs and MLAs have criminal cases against them, but that doesn’t let
anyone lose their sleep at night and life goes on. Why these double standards, that criminal cases
against politicians and biggies are motivated and false, but criminal cases against ordinary
citizens must be true! Ever heard of the term called “Innocent until proven guilty”? If you are
confident about your innocence, the society will believe you. But if you are the one who starts
running when somebody shouts the word “thief”, then society will believe that you must have
been the thief!
Warrior knows the enemy within and the enemy without. The enemy within can be fear, doubt,
impatience etc.
Warrior doesn’t fight at a time and place chosen by the opponent. He creates his own battles and
his own circumstances.
Warrior doesn’t blame the circumstances, but instead uses whatever circumstances exist to his
full advantage.
Many of the questions in fighter quiz will fall into one of above categories.
I am fighting my wife.
I am fighting injustice.