No solution in sight, harassed husbands turn to BHAI for help

BHOPAL: Anil* got married in 2009 and after some years, he was posted at Dubai. In 2013, his wife Neetu* came down to Bhopal with her child to attend a wedding and thereafter, refused to go back.
Anil’s in-laws also wanted him to transfer all his earnings to her and demanded Rs 50 lakh upfront while Rs 2 lakh as maintenance every month. To make things worse, Neetu even slapped a domestic violence case on her in-laws in May 2014.
On February 25 this year, the victim’s family attended the first hearing of the case, which left Anil’s 75 year old father, a retired government official, highly shaken. He became a recluse and barely a month; on March 22, he jumped before a moving train at Habibganj station. Now, the family is running pillar to post, trying to get an FIR registered as the GRP have refused to do so.
In yet another case of domestic violence, Shekhar*, a BHEL employee and a native of Uttar Pradesh, found his wife Trisha* cheating on him just 2 months after their marriage. She even sent nude photographs to her boyfriend, which he got to know later after checking her cell-phone. She went back to her native place in Gorakhpur in October 2013. After failed attempts for mediation for a year, now Trisha’s family is demanding Rs 20 lakh from Shekhar*, that they spent on the marriage.
Anil’s mother, Shekhar and several other battered husbands attended the ‘hope for men’ orientation seminar organized by Bhopal Against Injustice (BHAI) to mark the first anniversary of Bhopal chapter on Saturday. They shared their harrowing experience at the gathering. Members of BHAI’s parent organization Save Indian Family (SIF) were also present.
Around 100 members from Bhopal, Indore and Ujjain chapters, who have been falsely implicated in cases of dowry harassment, domestic violence or embroiled in maintenance-related cases, attended the orientation programme.
Wasif Ali, treasure of SIF, told TOI, “We counsel men both during pre-trial stage when there is maximum fear and then in evidence collection during the trial stage. We also aid in filing counter cases of perjury if the wife is putting up inflated bills and also use RTI to prove fake bills from sales tax department.”
Founder of the Bhopal chapter, Zaki Ahmed said, “Almost 11,000 calls were received last year at the national SIF helpline from MP, which is almost 30% of the 36,000 odd total calls.”
Ali added that Gwalior chapter, the fourth in the state, would be launched next month.