Domestic violence against men literally means abuse perpetrated on men by their intimate partners

or families. Men rarely surface as victims of domestic violence. The superior position enjoyed by
men in human society, makes one believe that they are not vulnerable to violence, within the safe
precincts of their homes.

Statistics drawn from surveys reveal otherwise, especially in recent times; whence men and women
are shown to be equally violent. It’s a pity that very little data is available about men who are abused
by their male or female domestic partners compared to women all over the world, because domestic
violence against men is also a fact. “Battered men” – is indeed a social problem that deserves
attention. It is believed that men who live with another male as sexual partners are more vulnerable
to violence, than men who live with women. But men’s being violated by women – is also a historical
fact of human society. The phenomenon of abused men is prevalent all over the world, just like the
violation of women. It has been researched that 3.2 million men against 5.3 million women have
been subjected to minor insistence of abuse like pushing, shoving, slapping, grabbing and hitting per
year. In the US 800.000 men per year are either physically assaulted or raped by their partners. That
boils down to 3.2%. And 3% percent of non-fatal violence against men stemming from domestic
situations. Men are normally very reluctant to report domestic abuse to the police or judiciary unless
it is life threatening.

A strange thing was witnessed on august 26, in Delhi, the capital of India – last year. August 26 is
celebrated as International women’s equality day all over the world. The central zone for social
protest ironically came alive on this day last year in India’s capital, with hoards of men shouting
slogans like “stop husband suicides, stop legal terrorism and protect the elderly from the N.C.W”.

N.C.W stood for a grim reality – “National Criminal Wives”. The save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF)
is a new organization formed by a nation wide group of some eight thousand Indian men – most of
them corporate managers, marketing executives and officers of the service sector. Men too are the
victims of domestic violence in India like other parts of the world – and are becoming aware of this
fact.

The SIFF claims that Indian men are being increasingly violated by abusive wives, their families and
greedy lawyers. Scheming women are violating men and their families by using laws like IPC 498 and
domestic violence act. These laws deal with dowry harassment, female abuse, money exploitation,
child custody and misappropriation of family property. SIIFF also claims that the high ratio of male to
female suicides in recent times (64:36) is primarily due to domestic cruelty against men. This can be
verified by viewing the records of national crime bureau curtsey 2005.

The movement for men’s rights has become a surprising byproduct of the women’s rights movement
in India. The species of battered men have no means of protection, like their empowered wives – in
the modern world. Every domestic squabble is manipulated to look like an act of cruelty and every
marital argument is being translated into legal jargon, threatening the very foundation of the
institution of marriage and society. Single parent families are on the increase and the father is
becoming a redundant species in the metropolitan cities of the world. Is this actually a reaction to
the regressive system of patriarchal society which always ruled in the favor of men in the recent
past?
The Domestic Violence Act was formed to stop the Domestic Violence against women but now it is
being misused to such an extent that women suffering from its misuse have far outnumbered the
women suffering from Domestic Violence. It is necessary to take steps to stop the misuse of this
Act to prevent the family system of India from breaking down and at the same time ensure justice
to genuinely abused women.

It is important to protect women from Domestic Violence. And hence for the same, a law was
formulated through which a woman can not only seek protection but also financial support in terms
of maintenance.

There used to be a time when a lot of women were dependent on their husbands and due to lack of
self-dependency and being less educated, these women had no options but to endure the torture
done on them, but today a lot of examples of qualified women misusing the law provisions and
torturing their in-laws are coming to front. Many women misuse this law and put false allegations on
husband’s mother-father and siblings. This destroys the lives of many a families. In fact, a lot of
contemporary women are suffering due to misuse of a law meant for women. Even after doing all
this torture, the complainant woman can get maintenance from the husband and by the time the
family proves its innocence the complainant woman stands to gain a lot financially. In a nutshell, it
can be said that even after levying false allegations and endangering the lives of so many people, the
complainant woman stands to gain only something, not loose. Eyeing such benefits, greedy women
are ever ready to file cases with false allegations. In order to take advantage of the law many a
qualified women are leaving their jobs deliberately. This is not only a hindrance to their growth but
also to the national economic growth.

The Govt. has formulated many policies for the girl child, due to the success of which today women
are progressing in every sphere of life. In fact, urban woman has no need to depend on anyone
today and she can well maintain herself. In such a situation, only socially and economically backward
woman must get support from the law. In fact, seeing other examples of women performing will
inspire many a woman to prosper in life. In order to stop the misuse of law, it is pertinent that only
suffering women should get help. In order to curb misuse many more steps can be taken like:

1. Prima-facie a woman should not get any interim relief if there are no visible signs of torture.

2. If the complainant woman has alleged against all/many family members from her in-laws’ side
then reasonable doubt can be cast on the genuineness of the complaint. Even if a single innocent
man/woman has been wrongly implicated than that should be a fact enough to punish the
complainant woman. She should not get any financial assistance because that will further encourage
the bad behavior of the woman and it will set precedence to waste the precious time of courts and
innocent people by such women.

3. If the complainant woman is educated, then she should be encouraged to be self-dependent. In

fact, it is an indirect torture on such a woman to keep her dependent on someone else. Educated
and qualified women should not be eligible for any financial assistance from their husbands.

It is very crucial to uproot the misuse of the Domestic Violence Act in order to safeguard our culture
and ensure progress of our country and to severely punish the people who misuse the law. Only
then will innocent families and genuinely abused women get justice and they will be protected from
this growing torture.

In the last twelve years (1996 – 2008) 170,000 husbands have been claimed by rampant domestic
violence against them. In a shocking revelation of suicide statistics for the year 2008 reveals that
almost double the number of married men have committed suicide in comparison to married
women as the report attached here corroborates. It states that in the year 2008 57,639 married men
committed suicide in comparison to 30,224 married women whereas the same figures for the years
2007 57593 and 30,064, 2006 are 55,452 and 29,869 and for 2005 are 52,483 and 28,188.

While there has been a lot of hue and cry for domestic violence against women with various studies
being sponsored for studying the same with tax payers’ money 82% of which comes from men, but
sadly enough no study has ever been done in India for studying the prevalence, effects and trends of
domestic violence against men or the statistics about it.

International studies world over have proved that both men and women are equally likely to be
victims of domestic violence, but unfortunately the Indian government has closed its doors very
brutally on the men leaving them to fend for themselves on their own. Even the courts have an anti
– men and a step – motherly attitude towards men what with the Honorable Delhi High Court
observing, “Though men are victims of violence, such incidences are few and far between, thus
ruling out the possibility of protection from the parliament”, while dismissing a petition challenging
the constitutionality of the Domestic Violence Act as it violates Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.

Although no studies have been done for studying domestic violence against men, yet the National
Crime Records Bureau in its analysis of suicide data for year 2008 and the decade 1998 – 2008 has
come up with some heart – rendering revelations. It has published that almost 24% of suicides are
directly due to domestic dispute, family problems and related stress. In the year 2008 57639 married
men committed suicide 24% of which works close to 13833 husbands. Further as per, Domestic
Violence Claims 156,000 husbands, 156,000 husbands have committed suicide in the eleven years
from 1996 – 2007 directly due to Domestic Violence. Adding the numbers of 2008, the final numbers
for 1996 – 2008 stand at close to 170,000.

Yes, 170,000 husbands have succumbed to Domestic Violence in 12 years with a yearly average of
14,166 and yet the Govt. and the society are not only silent about it but also silently laughing at it.