Animal cruetly

Sir,

The write-up on Animal cruetly by Ms Menaka Gandhi, was most thought provoking and timely. The subsequent favourable reaction by Mr. Lokinder Singh Ravi (DE, Oct. 25) was equally worth reading.

The most unfortunate part of the whole issue is that the common man in India takes an animal for granted. 'He is like a street dog'', is the common retort from well-educated Indians, while the people living in Europe and USA don't allow any dog or cat to loiter on a street; they take them home and tame them as a member of the family. The most appropriate thing to do is to inculcate, in school going children, a sense of responsibility towards the wild and tamed animals. Schools and nurseries can tell them that, almost 99 percent of the animals are mans friends until they are provoked to react.

How many among us care for the street dog guarding our houses at night. Do we ever care for the lunch, dinner or water which the dog sitting outside our gates needs in the morning/evening as we do. Don't we owe him to provide water in an earthern bowl on a summer day. Same is the story with birds searching food and water every morning within our lawns. Do we ever provide them a few grams of rice/bread/water when they need it the most in the morning. The most inhuman among us are the hi-speed drivers who kill dozens of innocent dumb-driver animals-dogs, cows and horses on highways. I can't prior to my 17 years, exile, I still remember of a tradition followed in Kashmir to keep a handful of cooked rice and vegetable before ones meal as 'Dogs share' called ''Hooni Meut''. The street dogs were more often taken care of by one and all round the year and more especially during the winter months.

Yours etc...
T K Munshi
Channi Himat Jammu

Domestic Violence Act

Sir,
The Domestic Violence Act 2005 has come into force with effect from 26th October, 2006 and is aimed at tackling particularly with the problem of violence against them at home. This is certainly a step in the right direction for bringing about improvement in the status/lot of the women in the society.

The Act provides protection of wife or the female live in partner from violence at the hands of the husband or the male live-in partner or other family members in the In-Law's family. And the punishment prescribed is a fine or rupees twenty thousand or one year imprisonment. And the violence under the Act includes abuse or the threat of abuse be it verbal, physical, sexual or economic.

The Act is certainly a need of the hour and assumes added importance in view of the ever increasing graph of violence against the women folk that includes the incidents of rape, murder, kidnapping, eves teasing, molestations taking place in different parts of the country and reported by the newspapers almost on a regular basis including violence countenanced by them at home at the hands of their life partners along with the other family members. The domestic violence against the women in fact constitutes the major soaring point in the violence graph against them.

Considering the social milieu in which we all live the women we all know always play the second fiddle in the family in a male dominate society though there may be exceptions where the voice of woman is being heard and family decision are hammered out after taking them fully into confidence. Majority of them are house wives who stay at homes doing the domestic chores from morning till evening and remain submissive and often find it better to remain silent in the better interest of the family. And thus majority of them particularly those living in rural and far flung backward areas being uneducated, unaware about their rights etc and nurtured at the parents homes with an education not to speak loud or argue with their In-Law's family members could not be expected to come forward with complaints against them despite enduring various types of violence at home quite meekly even after the coming into force of the Domestic Violence Act. Majority of them even may not be aware of about what/what for the Act actually is.

Thus with the coming into force the law we should not expect that violence and crime graph against them in the country would come down instantly but certainly this would have given shivers down the spines to those errant husbands including drunkards ones used to beating their wives and known that their wives are vocal and articulate enough to resist any type of injustice perpetrated against them at homes. They can now deal with such ruffian's type husbands more effectively with the strength and force of the law behind them. The downward change in the violence graph against women by their husbands would definitely get an impetus and put an end to this abominable violence against them with the passage of time. We can not expect the law to change the status of women in the society overnight considering that social changes do take place slowly and gradually and that too with creation of much awareness about these vital issues concerning the society.

A law is basically meant to be a deterrent against the recalcitrant and incorrigible types of husbands who continue to treat their better half's as slaves as well as faithful and obedient servants instead of providing them equal status as human beings in the society which is their innate right and for which they are all entitled. Definitely the Act would go to serve the purpose if able to create dread and scare among those resorting to violence against women in a society. In the light to above the law is welcome and expected to bring the graph of violence against the women in the society down substantially. This is certainly a foot ahead towards empowerment of women in the society.

Yours etc...
Ravi Sharma
Jammu