Reports say more married men, in comparison to women, commit suicide after marriage. Isn’t it time we had some law to protect men against marital harassment?

Before we start with this week’s discussion, here’s a little piece of information. The suicide rate amongst married men in India is much higher than that of married women. The number of employed men in public as well as private sector has dropped by 1.4 million this year, more than 82 per cent taxes earned by the Indian Government from men. But in past 60 years, the funds allocated in the Budget for men’s welfare has been zero. Every day more than 192 men end their life compared to 112 women as per Crime Bureau reports. According to a report and survey conducted by the Save India family, an organisation working for men welfare, on an average 32 percent males feel economically abused, 22 per cent emotionally abused and the rest comes under physical and social abuse.

But the point of focus is that every eight-minute one Indian man ends his life and the chances are 200 per cent higher after marriage. And, this is where domestic violence or marital harassment comes into the picture. Domestic violence, often a term associated and empathised with women, acquires a new meaning in men’s world. In the name of women empowerment, the law seems to have created a monster that wrongly, heavily, arbitrarily is biased.

“Talking about gender equality, by generalising any situation, gender or community, the law has totally failed to balance the process of justice, especially, in case of marital conflicts. In fact, by favouring women, the ease of law has promoted this kind of legal terrorism against men,” feels Anant, a 32-year-old professional in the city, who has been a victim of harassment by his estranged wife and has been suffering under its effects from the past six years.

And the most easy tools of this legal terrorism are Sections 304B, 498 (dowry harassment to wife) and 406 (ethical breach of trust) of IPC and Protection of Women against Domestic Violence Act passed in 2006. “Even a verbal complaint by a woman is enough to have the case registered and start a trial. Another loose end is the law that provides woman the protection to reside in her in-laws’ home and in case of resistance, on the sole testimony of the ‘aggrieved’, the entire family can be put behind bars,” briefs Anant. Well, with fake cases being reported every now and then, we wonder who the ‘aggrieved’ is? Though, of late, the investigative agencies have realised the need to complete the investigation before making arrests against any complaint.

A lot of men hesitate to come out and fight such cases because of the protection provided by the judiciary and investigative systems to women. “Nobody is ready to hear a man’s side of the story, instead they hold him guilty even before the trial starts. Even the battle in court ends up in mutual compromise on paper where you end up giving money to settle the matter. And, it is not just one man, but the entire family has to suffer,” says a 36-year -old doctor, another such victim from the city. Adding to the list is another one — a woman had filed a case of violence against her in-laws who were living in New Zealand while the couple lived in Canada. But sadly, our investigation system failed to notice the point.

Going by the profiles of such cases, the targeted ones are mostly from the upper strata. “Which is an important point. Women empowerment is becoming wife empowerment. And economic harassment is the big factor. A rickshaw pullers’ wife will never put a case against him as there is no money to extract or property to claim,” says Manish Tewari, a young law practitioner. And, about the emotional and mental harassment, well, “I have lost past six years of my life because of a fake case, my father committed suicide because of the harassment and I had to lose my job,” says Anant.

While several organisations like the Save India Family and All-India Rational Activist, active in Punjab, the solution doesn’t seem clear. “We have over 30,000 members and our only agenda is to fight it out,” says Anant, who is an active member too. But there are questions that are still left, in a hope to find some answers.

Is there any law as per the definition of ‘Domestic violence against Men’ by the Indian Government? Is there any protection or law for Indian men, who face domestic violence? Even with women bodies like the National Commission for women, there is a provision for a daughter-in-law to file a complaint but why not a mother-in-law or a sister-in-law, who can be implicated in false case?

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