5 Ways parents can help their son in fighting false cases

In India, most marriages of the youth are either arranged by their parents or else approved by them. Especially in non-metro cities of India, parents are the ultimate decision-makers in the marriage of children. Due to this, if there is any marital discord between the couple, the parents are the silent sufferers. On one side, the son/husband is burdened with fighting his case in court and on the other side parents of the husband are also blamed by the wife in her complaint and they are unnecessarily dragged into the police station or court, despite being senior citizens. To avoid any loss of reputation in society, parents generally do not share false case details with anybody in society. Due to this, parents often pressurize their son to do settlement with his wife and proceed for mutual divorce or worse, bring back a false-case wife. For the son, his parents are his biggest support structure. But when he sees his parents in a state of confusion and fear, he loses his fighting spirit and becomes mentally and emotionally weak. This is how wives and their lawyers make parents suffer to extract settlement amounts from their husbands by implicating parents in false cases.

However, parents play a very important role in preparing their sons for the legal battle ahead. Even without learning the laws deeply, here are 5 ways every husband’s parents can support their son in fighting false cases:

Stop blaming your son: Whether it’s arranged marriage or love marriage, it is important for parents to realise that their son has already compromised a lot during the tenure of marriage. Sometimes, the husband has torn apart his mother and his wife. Other times, he is at the receiving end of taunts from his parents such as “You could not handle your wife” or “You gave her too much freedom”. Such blame games are exactly what the wife intends to achieve within the family of the husband. If the parents fall into this trap, then the wife has succeeded in her motives. Since no son would ever like to see his parents become a victim of false cases, he immediately goes on a guilt trip and ultimately becomes weak and incapable to fight the cases. Nowadays, many families are facing false cases due to gender-biased laws which favour the wife. Your family is not an isolated family. Therefore, it is important for parents to stop blaming their sons for their current situation.

Avoid negativity: In some cases, parents love their daughter-in-law more than their son. They support her to the best of their abilities. They give all possible comfort and love they have to offer. Despite this, when their daughter-in-law implicates them in false cases and makes them accused or respondent in different criminal and civil cases, they enter the vicious tunnel of negativity. They think “we have done so much for our daughter-in-law then why is she punishing us like this?”. Sometimes they start to fear that their daughter-in-law will get them arrested or take away their properties and assets. Sometimes they envy looking at other happy families and think how bad decisions were taken by them. Irrespective of these negative thoughts, parents have to realise that every family have their own share of problems. Every family has ups and downs. This is the way life is. So what if one marriage turns sour or one relationship is spoiled, do we really stop living because of this? Instead of overthinking or negative thinking, parents can redefine their roles in the life of their son and help him to get prepared for fighting against this form of legal extortion and refuse to surrender to the pressures of paying huge sums of money in the form of alimony and settlement.

Motivate your son to give a tough fight: Fighting court trials is a cumbersome process. Innocent husbands go through various stages of rigour. This can eat up any desire to progress professionally and personally in them. At this point, parents can intervene and plant seeds of motivation in their son’s minds to get that new project, learn that new technology, join a gym, work on his professional skills or start his new venture. Parents can also encourage and support their son to be a part of a support structure such as the Nyay Prayaas Foundation where he will learn to fight his cases and live a life of fulfilment and abundance even during the pendency of cases. These are overlooked methods of spearheading the quality of his life and will also bring him out as a more confident person in the courtroom.

Be informed about the law: Nothing adds to the existing frustrations of a falsely trapped husband more than incorrect or uninformed questions and advice by parents. Often after instigation from parents to take a drastic measure, husbands land into even bigger legal trouble than they already are in. While it is not expected of parents to become legal experts overnight, studying a few of the bare acts such as IPC 498A, Domestic Violence Act (Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act, 2005), CrPC 125 etc. will help shape their perspective towards the legal struggles their son is facing. This will also help parents to understand the complexity of the problem the son is dealing with. Hence, we recommend all parents read such bare acts in their native language and increase their knowledge on how their daughter-in-law is misusing the law.

Create awareness against gender-biased laws: It is not a secret anymore that the laws are in favour of women and wives misuse the law to gain bargaining advantage in negotiations. Parents may not need to step on the streets with banners and placards. Often connecting with like-minded parents or parents of other victims’ sons can help. Not only does it help in de-stressing the trauma of the false cases themselves, but such discussions and ‘Quiet activism’ can also help expose and uproot evils like feminism-sponsored legal terrorism faster from society. Parents can consider talking about the misuse of laws in their families and society in general. When parents of male victims start to talk openly about false cases, the perception of the social changes and people come out to support them. Soon, governments will be forced faster to amend existing gender-biased laws and frame new laws and acts to punish false accusers.

If you wish to learn more about the laws of different IPC sections or roles and powers of police, you may get in touch with us via our all-India helpline at +91 9811550662.

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