Lalitha Kumaramangalam at her office in Delhi on Monday. Picture by Yasir Iqbal

New Delhi, Sept. 29: India’s new National Commission for Women chief kicked off her tenure today conceding that many women were lodging false dowry and domestic violence cases, while putting it partly down to a backlash against years of oppression.

“Yes, false cases have been registered against men under both the dowry and domestic violence laws,” Lalitha Kumaramangalam told a news conference on her first day in office.

“But while I am saying that this is not right, I also believe that there is bound to be a backlash after so many years of suppression.”

Misuse of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, under which cases of dowry harassment and domestic cruelty are booked, has drawn strong observations from the courts and government committees.

Recently, the Supreme Court equated misuse of the section to “legal terrorism” and said it was being treated as a “weapon rather than a shield by disgruntled wives”.

Official data show that more than 80 per cent of the 498A cases where verdicts have been delivered led to acquittals, and that a large number of cases have been withdrawn by the victims.

Accusations of shoddy investigation paving the way for acquittals have generally not been raised in these cases, because the female complainant’s word is given extraordinary weight under Section 498A.

Recently, the Save Indian Family Movement, a men’s rights NGO, launched the first ever helpline for men harassed at home and received 24,000 SOS calls in its first 120 days.

“While urban women who know how the law works and are abreast of their rights might misuse the law, there is still a need to have the law without any dilution in the rural areas,” Kumaramangalam said.

“With due apologies to the men here (at the news conference), men do think that to suppress women the easiest thing to do is use violence. Even I have resorted to aggression as an activist, and sometimes that is the only thing to do.”

On the sidelines of the news conference, Kumaramangalam said that despite being a political appointee, she wanted to keep the post free from politics. “While I have the blessings of the BJP, I will keep the post removed from politics,” she said.

Asked about the women and child development ministry’s argument that a person with a legal background should head the commission, Kumaramangalam, who lacks legal expertise, said: “It is not mandatory that only a judge or a legal luminary can do legal work.”

She added: “Most of the laws that we have in this country have been pushed by activists. I have members with me who have sound legal knowledge.”