09 Sep 09 Moms-in-law join hands to break cruel stereotype

Chennai: After battered wives and harassed husbands, it is the turn of mothers-in-law to form an organisation. More than 500 from across the country came together in Bangalore to launch the All-India Mothers-in-law Protection Forum (AIMPF) on Sunday. 
For some, it will provide a forum to be heard; for others, it is to break the ‘cruel woman’ stereotype that TV soaps have been reinforcing. So varied is the constitution of the forum that it has as members a university teacher from Chennai, a forensic expert from Delhi and a Karnataka surgeon.
“In TV dramas, we are the villains; in real life, we are the victims,” said Nalini (name changed), a homemaker from Chennai, who has joined the AIMPF. The organization is being supported by the Save India Family Foundation (SIFF), a Bangalore-based NGO working for ‘harassed husbands’. 
So will AIMPF protect mothers-in-law only from daughters-in-law and not sonsin-law? “Mostly, women are dragged to court by daughtersin-law. So we are focussing on them. The organization is not against anyone,” said SIFF’s PRO Virag Dhulia. 
The forum plans to use its website, www.aimpf.org, to host discussions. “The forum will take up issues, including amendments to inheritance laws and the Domestic Violence Act,” SIFF convener Manoj David said. Forum supporters said though there were several incidents of mothers-in-law torturing daughters-in-law, there were also many mothersin-law who silently bore the brunt of domestic violence.

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