The Men Welfare Trust (MWT), one of the flag bearer NGO of Men’s Rights Movement of India (Save Indian Family – SIF Movement), appreciates the landmark order, though a rarity, by the Hon’ble Delhi High Court (DHC) in a recent Anticipatory Bail hearing (Bail Application 262/2025). This order not only underscores the principles of gender-neutral justice but also challenges the societal stereotypes and biases that have long plagued male victims of domestic violence.
Acknowledging the harsh reality of the plight of Husbands, the Court accepted the unspoken victimhood that Husbands face in an abusive marriage. The court remarked that the Husbands are just not a victim of draconian violence at the hands of their wives but also are equally fragile victims of the societal disbelief and stigma of becoming a laughingstock of the society and his own circles.
MWT has long been emphasized on this critical fact which eventually is the biggest reason of Husband Suicides in the country. As it is, the Husband suicides in India are astronomical and as per the data from NCRB ADSI report 2022, stands at 272 Husband Suicides for every 100 Wife Suicides. Before a confident, yet grossly incorrect assumption is drawn that Husband Suicides are for other reasons while Wife Suicides are because of a Husband, it is critical to correct this bias as well.
The biggest reason for suicides, as per NCRB, is Family Issues. To clarify further, till 1994, “Family Issues” was recorded as “Quarrel with Spouse” + “Quarrel with Parent-in-laws” subheads. Dwelling further, since “ghar jamai” has been pushed as a slang to abuse men (another societal bias), it is pretty clear that while for a wife “Quarrel with Parent-in-Laws” and “Quarrel with Husband” are almost equally split, the same data for Husband is practically much more with “Quarrel with Wife” as the reason.
This is also clearly evidenced with the same data where Male Suicides increase post marriage, Female Suicides actually decrease post marriage. Hence, what the Hon’ble DHC remarked is a truth, is a reality out there, just ignored because of the societal disbeliefs, feminist hoax and demonization, incorrect definition of “patriarchy”. As far as the point of Hon’ble DHC towards stigma is concerned, it is a writing on the wall, as our country, till today, doesn’t have any law for Husband / Men / Boys to be protected from Domestic Violence. This results into not a single entry of such a crime, not a single entry of this data and hence the famous grossly incorrect notion that men cannot be victims.
In the same landmark order, Hon’ble DHC while highlighting the Misuse of Rape Laws, referred about how the Rape Law threat was used to force Husband to Marry. Ironically, “False Promise to Marry” is treated as Rape (in IPC) and now a new law in BNS (Section 69), a “Forced Marriage” of Husbands is not even a crime.
MWT has long been advocating that any false promise should be treated under the existing laws of cheating only. While on one had the feminist question the exception in Rape Law to a marital relationship, they immediately flip their stand to push “False Promise to Marry” as Rape. This means, in the same Rape Law reasoning from feminists, Marriage is not important factor to differentiate for the exception for husbands, Marriage becomes a critical factor to differentiate to treat a false promise (factually, most of the cases are eventually found to be broken promise or fake, and not false promise) as Rape.
MWT has been advocating for past many years that “Crime has No Gender” but thanks to the instant order of the Hon’ble DHC to critically remark that “Criminal has no Gender” & “Injury has no Gender” either. This echoes numerous studies, including those on spousal violence, which highlighted that women-initiated violence often results in more fatal outcomes
Role Reversal is a clear Litmus Test for judging if a law/behaviour/appreciation/punishment/acknowledgement is Biased or Not. The Hon’ble DHC has thankfully put the same test of Role Reversal in this instant order while judging the gravity of crime. In this case, the husband had boiling poured upon him mixed with chilli powder while he was asleep with his infant child was crying beside him.
The Hon’ble Court asked a pertinent question if the law, emotions, judgment, punishment would have been the same, if roles were reversed and wife was a victim of same actions of a husband? This is an open question for every Law Maker, every Hon’ble Judge, every citizen to ask themselves, whenever they are witnessing/deciding a scenario involving crime between genders.
We, as MWT, do wish that this Litmus Test were done by the Society, Police, Courts in all cases, including those of Atul Subhash (Bangalore Techie forced suicide/murder), Amit Garg (Groom Burning Case from Jaipur), Arvind Bharti (Dowry Case then Rape Case forced this lawyer to commit suicide in Delhi) and lakhs of similar other such cases which make or don’t make it to the news. Moreover, it would be another big bias if the details of this case i.e. pouting boiling water with chilli while sleeping, using Rape law threat to force marriage etc. are assumed to be an exception.
There or even more gruesome crimes against men happening every minute in India (factually, sexual assault of male gender is higher than that of female gender – Ministry of WCD report 2007, sexual harassment at workplace of men is higher than women – synovate survey) but just that media, society, police, courts, law makers ignore them, as conditioned by feminism.
We wish to submit our humble appreciation to this remarkable order which covers the silenced but Tsunamic wrath of stereotype, bias, victimization, gender-based justice that Husbands, Men, Boys face every day, every minute, every second. Because of the same biases, the media and law makers (& to some extent, men themselves) keep ignoring the other half of the population, the HUMANS known as Men.
We, as MWT, wish to reiterate our demands towards getting men the same respect, rights, voice that women have:
1. Establish a National Commission for Men: With alarming statistics indicating over 120,000 male suicides annually, this commission would serve as a dedicated platform for addressing men’s issues and giving them voice in Law Making process as well
2. Ensure Gender-Neutral Laws: It is high time to amend, review, and reform existing laws related to sexual violence, dowry, and maintenance, including the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. It is essential to ensure that these laws are gender-neutral and protect all victims of domestic violence, regardless of gender. Men should also be granted the same fundamental rights as women. The Constitution provides all citizens with the Right to Equality (Article 14), Rights against Exploitation (Articles 23-24), and the Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32), among others. Unfair laws can never bring fairness to society; they only destroy social harmony, leading to increased hate, violence, and crime. The law must treat everyone equally and not discriminate against any citizen based on their gender. To achieve this, it is necessary to replace the terms ‘husband/wife’ with ‘spouse’ and ‘man/woman’ with ‘person’ in the laws
3. Follow Article 14, 15, 21 WITHOUT ANY EXCEPTIONS: Crime has No Gender, Criminal has No Gender, Injury has No Gender, Constitution covers all genders equally, then why laws, judicial system (Mahila Courts), police system (Mahila Thana) etc. should have gender? Replace all Gender Specific Names to Family/Person, just not as the name, but the very soul of these institutions to respect Article 14, Article 15 of the Constitution of India (Article 15(3) which refers to provisions and NOT LAWS cannot be used to disregards Article 15)
Men Welfare Trust is a Men’s Rights NGO based out of Delhi. You can connect with them on their National Helpline +91 8882 498 498 or via email at menwelfaretrust@gmail.com
Direct Contact Numbers for Men Welfare Trust:
- +91 9811004578
- +91 9818509406
- +91 9015980399
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Domestic Violence Against Men Delhi HC Order Underscores Principles Of Gender Neutral Justice: @MenWelfare
▪️"Till 1994, Family Issues was recorded as “Quarrel with Spouse” + “Quarrel with Parent-in-laws”. Since “ghar jamai” has been pushed as slang.."https://t.co/BGo0SobgCr
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