False cases of dowry demand had been increasing and with advent of internet a Yahoo group ‘Misuse Dowry Act’ was created in 2004 by few people. People from all over would converge on the group and share experiences, devise strategies in their individual cases.
The recognition of a need for Men’s movement was felt to tackle issues beyond matrimonial cases and a Yahoo group called as Save Indian Family was created in 2005. This turned out as a watershed moment in the history of men’s movement in India. People began to conduct weekly meetings offline in their respective cities. Eventually such groups registered as NGOs.
Mumbai had meetings going on in Borivli under the name Indian Family Foundation and as Protect Indian Family Foundation in Mulund. There also was MASHAAL, our women’s wing led by women who supported idea of men’s rights movement. Vaastav Foundation was started in 2014 as a registered NGO, which brought all these existing NGOs under one banner. Currently we conduct meetings in Borivli, Mulund and Navi Mumbai with about 150 people being supported every week. We work to highlight issues of men’s health, boy’s education, harmful effects of stereotyping of men, etc.
Yahoo groups have closed down on 15th Dec 2020, Hence, we are moving the group to Google groups now. ASK ALL THE VICTIMS TO JOIN THE SAVE INDIAN FAMILY (SIF) GOOGLE GROUP.