Meninism
Delhi businessman Puneet Khurana spoke to his estranged wife around 3 am on 31 December, recorded a video, and killed himself
Just three weeks after the high-profile suicide of Atul Subhash. Like Khurana, the 34-year-old deputy general manager at a Bengaluru tech firm left behind detailed allegations of harassment he faced by his wife and her family.
A country where more than 4.45 lakh cases of crimes against women were registered in 2022, as per the latest National Crime Records Bureau report.
Section 84 (Enticing or taking away or detaining with criminal intent a married woman) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita as well as the Domestic Violence Act are being weaponised by estranged partners to coerce the families of men into paying high maintenance.
Save Indian Family Foundation - men's rights group, largest in India, of which Atul Subhash was a member
In December 2024, when the Supreme Court waded into the debate following Subhash’s death.
In an unrelated case, it made observations on the growing discord in marriages, and how sections like 498A of the IPC are also being misused by women.
A law intended to protect women is now being used as “a tool to unleash personal vendetta against a husband and his family members by a wife,” said the apex court.
Many men’s rights groups like Men Welfare Trust in New Delhi, as well as Men Helpline are all off-shoots of SIFF.
If things continue as such nobody will get married in 10 years
“In today’s world, if I need a cook, I’ll just hire a maid for Rs 2,000 a month"
498A of the IPC, known as the anti-dowry law which deals with violence against women by husbands and their relatives, that is misused the most in such cases. Section 498A was incorporated into the Indian Penal Code in 1983 to provide for adequate punishment for any cruelty inflicted on a married woman by the husband and his relatives. The punishment is imprisonment for three years and a fine.
In 2023, Ekaam Nyaay foundation came up with a research report documenting 850 cases of husband murder and suicide by men in 2023,” she said. She also claimed that 30 to 40 per cent of acid attack victims are men.
