Published: Sunday November 1, 2009 MYT 5:08:00 PM
Now, the Indian man cries domestic violence
Domestic violence is the number one cause of suicide among married men, according to India's National Crime Record Bureau
NEW DELHI: If 'Men are from Mars, and Women from Venus', then, who's beating the crap out of the Indian man in the sanctity of his marital home?
It appears that the standard roles appear to have been reversed, at least in India, if the cries of battered husbands are anything to go by.
Now, helpless and harassed men are demanding protection from their abusive wives and in-laws.
While stringent Indian laws have protected the fairer sex from domestic violence, now it is the Indian man who laments he is out in the cold.
An increasing number of men fall victim to domestic violence, either in cities or rural areas, according to social activists, though hard data is not readily available.
"Domestic violence against men has been prevalent but not reported because men are too shy to report that they are abused by their wives.
“Many men suffer in silence," Neeraj Aggarwal, coordinator of the Save the Family Foundation, told Bernama in a recent interview.
The foundation, a social organisation set up in 2005 to hear domestic grouses from married men, has set up over 100 helplines across Indian cities and towns.
It receives about 400 calls every week from harassed husbands.
Last Sunday, the group even staged a silent protest in the Indian capital to highlight the plight of men who suffer ill-treatment from their female partners and the lack of proper pro-male equality laws.
"Indian laws are so biased towards women that Indian men dare not lodge reports. The judiciary is under pressure from radical feminists and the courts will only listen to the woman's side of the story," said Aggarwal.
Cases of women ill-treating their husbands and the latter's parents, verbal and emotional abuses and even husbands threatened by their in-laws are common grouses faced by the men, but they hardly receive any attention, complain activists.
According to India's National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), 57,593 married men committed suicide for various reasons in 2007, as compared to 30,064 married women.
"Domestic violence is the number one cause of suicide among married men.
“According to an NCRB survey from 1996 to 2007, 156,000 married men committed suicide but the government had turned a blind eye.
"The data clearly shows men are also abused but their sufferings are suppressed. They don't have any communication channel and the attitude of society makes them suffer emotionally," said Virag Dhulia, public relations officer of the Bangalore chapter of the Save the Family Foundation. - Bernama
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