14 Sep 09 Kyunki bahu bhi kabhi saas banegi
Bangalore: Are you a regular viewer of saas-bahu soaps and taken in by vampish mother-in-laws portrayed on screen? It’s not always so in real life. The truth is, not only are bahus victims and traumatized by the saas — even the mother-in-law is at the receiving end.
To highlight this, the All-India Mother-In-Law Forum was launched on September 6 this year. Forum coordinator Neena Dhuli, who was a victimized mother-in-law, was accused of dowry harassment and is still fighting a related legal battle.
The forum, possibly a first-of-itskind, has gathered 50 members across India. It will help mothers-in-law globally who are falling prey to the onesided legal system, which often favours daughters-in-law. The Forum will also organize dharnas to make citizens and government aware of the real issue.
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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.
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Tags: battered wives, convener, cruel woman, Daughter-in-Law, daughters in law, domestic violence, domestic violence act, forensic expert, homemaker, host discussions, Indian Family, inheritance laws, manoj, Marriage, mother-in-law, mothers in law, tv dramas, tv soaps, university teacher, violence against women, virag, Women, Women's Rights
06 Sep 09 Moms-in-law of the world unite…
Chennai: After woeful wives and harassed husbands, it’s the turn of mothers-in-law to form an organisation. More than 500 of them from across the country will come 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 surgeon from Karnataka.
“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 the AIMPF protect mothers-in-law only from their daughtersin-law and not sons-in-law? “Mostly the women are accused and dragged to court by their daughters-in-law. So we are focussing only on them. The organization is not against anyone; it is for mothers-in-law,” said SIFF public relations officer Virag Dhulia.
The forum plans to use its website, www.aimpf.org, to host discussions and debates. “The forum will take up issues, including amendments to inheritance laws and the Domestic Violence Act,” SIFF convenor Manoj David said.
Some AIMPF members TOI spoke to had horror tales to narrate. One said that whenever she went inside the bath to shower, her daughter- in-law would turn on the geyser from outside.
Supporters of the forum said that though there were several incidents of mothers-in-law torturing their daughters-in-law, there were also many mothers-in-law who silently bore the brunt of domestic violence. “There are several mothers-in-law who are victimised and threatened with Section 498 (a) of the IPC, which speaks of up to three years’ imprisonment for husband’s relatives in dowry harassment cases,” said Virag.
Tags: bangalore india, cruel woman, Daughter-in-Law, daughters in law, domestic violence, domestic violence act, forensic expert, horror tales, host discussions, Indian Family, inheritance laws, manoj, many mothers, Marriage, mother-in-law, mothers in law, tv dramas, tv soaps, university teacher, violence against women, virag, Women, Women's Rights
