BBCOn the day of 9 December, a 34-year-old Hindu man killed himself. A sign that read” justice is credited” was next to his body.
Atul Subhash blamed the problems in his marriage and divorce trials with a detailed 24-page suicide note and an 81-minute picture.
The text and film, which reveal troubling facts about his existence, have gone viral on social media and sparked outrage.
The software engineer from Bengaluru, a city in southern India, accused his estranged woman Nikita Singhania, her brother, and mother of ongoing abuse and abuse, allegations they denied. A few days after their arrest, the three were taken into custody and remanded in a courtroom for 14 days.
Men’s rights activists were also sparked by Subhash’s horrible death and by the publication of a report on the dreadful death, which sparked a wider discussion about India’s tough marriage law, which was meant to shield women from harassment and even murder.
However, many contend that as divorce cases continue to rise, women are now using the law to abuse their husbands and also force them to commit suicide. India’s top prosecutor has even weighed in, with one assess describing it as “legal violence” that was “intended to be used as a helmet and not as an enemy’s tool”.
Women’s protesters, however, point out that needs for large marriage payments from husbands ‘ families still continues to eliminate thousands of women every month.
Bengaluru officersSinghania and Subhash got married in 2019, but they had been separated for three years, and Subhash claimed he was unable to fulfill their four-year-old child. His partner, he alleged, had filed “false court instances”, accusing him of violence, money abuse and several other transgressions.
In the video, he accused the Singhania family of “extortion” and said they had demanded 30m rupees ($ 352, 675, £279, 661 ) to withdraw the cases, 3m rupees for visitation rights to their son and asked to raise the monthly maintenance from 40, 000 rupees to 200, 000 rupees.
He then described the numerous long-distance trips he’s taken to court hearings over the past few years, accused a judge of harassing him, pay him, and made fun of him. The judge allegedly issued the notice, which described the allegations as “baseless, evil, and derogatory.”
In a number of locations, the announcement of the death sparked a wave of protests. Some users of social media vowed to end Subhash’s injustice.
They demanded that Singhania get detained and put in a life sentence, and that her death should be treated as a murder case.
On X ( previously Twitter ), thousands of people tagged the multinational American company where she worked and demanded that they fire her.
The authorities in Bengaluru opened an investigation into the people named in the murder statement following the outcry. On 14 December, Singhania, her mother and brother were arrested on charges of “abetment to suicide”.
During interrogation, Singhania denied the allegation that she had been harassing Subhash for money, Times of India quoted the police as saying.
In the past, Singhania had also levelled grave charges against her husband. In her 2022 petition for divorce, she had accused him, his parents and brother of harassing her for dowry. She said they had been unhappy with the gifts her parents had given during the wedding and demanded an additional 1m rupees.
Dowries have been outlawed in India since 1961, but the bride’s family is still expected to gift cash, clothes and jewellery to the groom’s family. According to a recent study, 90% of Indian marriages involve them and payments between 1950 and 1999 amounted to a quarter of a trillion dollars.
And according to the National Crime Records Bureau, 35, 493 wives were killed in India between 2017 and 2022- an average of 20 women a time- over money demands, maybe even years after the marriage. In 2022 only, more than 6, 450 wives were murdered over money- that’s an average of 18 people every day.
Singhania claimed that Subhash’s kids went to him and demanded the money shortly after her father passed away from a heart strike shortly after her marriage. She claimed that her father threatened her, “beat me up after drinking beer, and demanded strange sex,” and that he even threatened to “do it.” Subhash had denied both the claims.
Police claim they are also looking into the allegations and counterarguments, but Subhash’s death has sparked growing calls to update Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, which is strict against dowry.
Following a flurry of marriage murders in Delhi and other parts of the nation, the law was passed in 1983. Weddings were frequently reported as “kitchen accidents” because their husbands and in-laws burned them to death, according to reports. Women’s protests compelled congress to pass the law due to enraged protests.
According to attorney Sukriti Chauhan,” the rules had come after a long and difficult battle” and “allows women to seek fairness in cases of cruelty in their marriage homes.”
But over the decades, the legislation has consistently made articles, with people’s protesters saying it is being misused by people to abuse their husbands and their relatives.
India’s top court has also warned against the misuse of the law on many occasions. The Supreme Court once more raised the issue of the growing trend to “use the provision as a tool to unleash personal vendetta against the husband and his family” in an unrelated case the day after Subhash’s suicide was reported.
Amit Deshpande, founder of Mumbai-based men’s rights organisation Vaastav Foundation, says the law is being used “mostly to extort men” and that” there are thousands of others who are suffering like Subhash”.
According to him, their helpline receives about 86, 000 calls a year, and the majority of them involve matrimonial disputes that include false dowry claims and extortion attempts.
” The law has been shaped into a cottage industry. 18 to 20 people are named as accused in each case, and they must all represent themselves in court and seek bail. A two-month-old baby or a mentally ill nonagenarian were named in dowry harassment complaints.
” I know these are extreme examples, but the entire system allows this in some way. Police, judiciary and politicians are turning a blind eye to our concerns, “he says.
Getty ImagesAccording to Mr. Deshpande, the government’s crime data for more than 50 years indicates that the majority of male suicides were committed by married men, and that family tension contributed to one in four of these suicides.
Patriarchy, he says, also works against men”. Women can invoke laws and receive sympathy, but people find humor in the treatment of men who are beaten or harassed by their wives. He could have resisted some laws if Subhash were a woman. Let’s create gender-neutral laws and do men the same justice so that lives can be saved.
He adds that there should be strict punishment for those who break the law, because otherwise, it won’t be a deterrent.
Ms. Chauhan contends that any law can be abused, but that women who break the law should be punished. The Bengaluru case is in court and if it is proven that it’s a false case, then she should be punished, she says.
However, I oppose gender neutrality in it. The demand for that ignores the need for special measures that consider how much women are disproportionately affected by violence.
Those going after Section 498A, she says, are” driven by patriarchy and because it’s a law for women, attempts are made to strike it down”.
” It came after years of societal patriarchal injustice. And this patriarchy will continue to affect generations to come.
She claims that despite the law, there is a disproportionate demand for dowry and that thousands of brides have already been murdered for it.
The need of the hour, she adds, is to” make the law stronger”.
” If three out of ten of the cases that are filed are false, the courts must punish them.” However, in this nation, women still suffer a lot, so don’t ask for the law to be repealed.
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