The latest decision of the Union cabinet to amend divorce laws has been opposed by organisations which say they work to protect the rights of men.
These organisations claim that divorce laws favour the interests of women and reduce men to being ATMs, good enough to extract money any time.
“The new law should not make marriage a property transfer bureau and turn husbands into free ATM money. Everywhere around the world, in case of divorce, the property of both spouses is divided. But here it is being suggested that only the husband’s property must be divided,” said Niladri Das of Save Family Foundation, a Delhi-based organisation.
This foundation was one of the organisations called by the Parliamentary Committee headed by Union minister Jayanthi Natarajn, which looked into the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010.
The foundation claims to have an active membership of 5,000 people, and has a network spread across the country through 40 NGOs.
The organisation claimed that it has been getting panic calls from men who want to understand the nuances and the financial implications of the amendment.
“Several men are calling to seek suggestions on whether they should sell off their property. Some who are planning to buy a house are confused whether they should go ahead or not,” Das said.
Alimony issues
He also objected to other clauses in the proposed amendment, such as the duration of marriage as a determinant for computing the amount of alimony to a woman.
“Across the world, the duration of marriage is taken into account to finalise the amount of alimony. But in our country, whether it is a month or 20 years, the matter is treated as the same,” he added.
Das said they have been highlighting these issues at several forums and will continue to do so.
Organisation members demanded that the revised comprehensive Bill should be gender neutral, with sufficient inbuilt safeguards to prevent misuse against any gender.
The words ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ should be replaced by ‘spouse’ in the Bill, a member of Save Family Foundation said.