BANGALORE, India, (AFP) - Thousands of Indian women are tormented by dowry demands, but in a room crammed with dusty files an 87-year-old lawyer fields countless calls complaining of a less publicised problem: husbands harassed by their wives.

AK Singh bellows instructions to the men who call him and gives them the address of his dimly-lit office full of cobwebs in a lower-middle-class part of the south Indian technology hub Bangalore.

Singh founded the Harassed Husbands Association in 1994 in the belief that while the spotlight was on abusive husbands, there are also many "poor men tortured by their wives."

"In India many wives take advantage of anti-dowry laws and file false complaints against their husbands," Singh said.
On his motivation for founding the association, Singh said: "Fortunately there is harmony in my married life."

But he said he became aware of the abuse of anti-dowry laws when he trained to become a lawyer.
Singh had joined the police force in 1938 when India was still ruled by Britain and set his sights of studying the law after his retirement in 1973. He became an advocate in the High Court of Karnataka state, of which Bangalore is the capital, in 1984.

"While in the courts I was moved by the plight of the poor people, particularly husbands harassed by their wives. This forum is not against women, but against the provisions of law which favour them," Singh said.
"Many unscrupulous wives misuse the law and approach the police and courts completely forgetting it is their future life which will be marred," he said.

Official figures show that 7,000 women were killed in India over dowry disputes last year, up from 5,500 in 1996.
But anti-dowry activists say most cases go unreported and estimate a woman is murdered over dowry every 10 minutes in India - often by burning in killings dismissed as kitchen accidents.

In hopes of curbing the age-old practice of brides' families paying the groom, Indian law requires only a written complaint to allow the interrogation of the husband or any member of his family.

Punishment for dowry crimes can go up to life in prison.
Singh does not see many rich men as they "have the money to settle cases."

"Ninety per cent of my clients are poor who cannot afford to pay even the lawyer's fees. I accept whatever they give. Every month about 30 people knock on my doors," he said as three men waited patiently outside his home.
Among them was Ashish Kumar, 38, who works as a maintenance engineer at a medical college.

"Initially when I got married I was without a job," Kumar said. "But after I got a job my wife's parents took her and my kid away saying I could not afford to maintain my family."
"I am not welcome in their house and my wife complains I am harassing her for money. She threatens to commit suicide or call the police when I go to her parents' home," Kumar said.
"The only way out was to seek a laywer's help," he said.
The Society for Promotion of Marital Harmony, another Bangalore-based group helping men in dowry disputes, said more than 20 people called its helpline every day.
"There is a widespread misuse of several laws related to dowry, marriage, divorce and child custody," said S Amardeep, one of the founders of the Society.
"It leads to a point where an erroneous impression is created that all men are drunkards, irresponsible, greedy for dowry and abusive. Most of the victims are falsely implicated," Amardeep said.
The forum, which offers legal help and counselling, holds weekly meetings to settle cases through negotiations between families.
Singh said that despite the law's good intentions, women can use it as a weapon.
"It is becoming a daily affair. There is a surge in such cases," he said.

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