<p>The leitmotif of the three-day convention of ‘harassed husbands’ would be to record their grievances against the Domestic Violence Act, 2006 and the Dowry Act, which the organisers of the convention claim are “draconian” and “tilted against men.”<br /><br />Nitin Gupta, a local representative of the NGO, Save Indian Family Foundation, which is one of the organisers of the convention, claims that over 1.20 lakh harassed husbands had committed suicide in the country in the past four years. <br /><br />He claims these figures had been culled from the records of National Crime Records Bureau.<br /><br /> The Foundation website quotes figures from the NCRB to claim that suicide rates among married males was 65.25 pc while it was 34.75 pc in case of married females. <br /><br />“All the laws favour women and men hardly have a voice even when they are being harassed. The women can get away by acting as victims,” rues Balbir Singh, who claims to be a victim in the ongoing dowry suit filed by his wife against him. Other organisations which are supporting the convention include Bangalore-based Children’s Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting, Purush Suraksha Sanstha from Maharashtra and Pathi Paramesh Kendra from Uttar Pradesh.<br /><br />Besides deliberating on strategies on how to take on their wives, the convention would appeal to the Central government to set up a forum for hearing the grievances of harassed husbands.</p>
<p>The leitmotif of the three-day convention of ‘harassed husbands’ would be to record their grievances against the Domestic Violence Act, 2006 and the Dowry Act, which the organisers of the convention claim are “draconian” and “tilted against men.”<br /><br />Nitin Gupta, a local representative of the NGO, Save Indian Family Foundation, which is one of the organisers of the convention, claims that over 1.20 lakh harassed husbands had committed suicide in the country in the past four years. <br /><br />He claims these figures had been culled from the records of National Crime Records Bureau.<br /><br /> The Foundation website quotes figures from the NCRB to claim that suicide rates among married males was 65.25 pc while it was 34.75 pc in case of married females. <br /><br />“All the laws favour women and men hardly have a voice even when they are being harassed. The women can get away by acting as victims,” rues Balbir Singh, who claims to be a victim in the ongoing dowry suit filed by his wife against him. Other organisations which are supporting the convention include Bangalore-based Children’s Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting, Purush Suraksha Sanstha from Maharashtra and Pathi Paramesh Kendra from Uttar Pradesh.<br /><br />Besides deliberating on strategies on how to take on their wives, the convention would appeal to the Central government to set up a forum for hearing the grievances of harassed husbands.</p>
