A rising number of women getting their husbands killed has turned the obscure crime of mariticide into a sociological challenge. Sending shock waves across social divides. Who could have thought women’s emancipation would lead to such worrying trends, observes a certain class.
Perhaps, women’s emancipation is used as a scapegoat for simmering issues that were not addressed by society for long.
That, it has completely overshadowed the prevalent evil of dowry deaths in Indian marriages, is another patriarchal prerogative.
While social media was busy sympathising with the protagonist of ‘Mrs’ (a Hindi adaptation of original Malayalam film ‘The Great Indian Kitchen’), that focused on the oppressive male privileges in an Indian family; the media exploded with the sensational mariticide by Muskan, a small- town woman, who killed her London-based husband with the aid of her unemployed lover, defying logical reasoning and social norms. This case was not isolated.
An AI engineer, an HR manager from Bangalore, a businessman in Auraiya in UP, all got killed by their spouses within a span of a month. Mayuri paid supari of just Rs 1.5 lakh after her pre-wedding shoot with Jai Kadam, to get him killed. He survived; he was lucky.
By a rough estimate around 275 men are getting killed by their wives annually - few are pushed to committing suicide - while an average of 225 wives get murdered by their husbands or partners, in crimes of passion, in India.
NCRB data shows that among the major motives for killing a person, love affairs have increased at the highest rate, post economic liberalisation--between 2001 and 2017. While the total number of murders fell by 21 % during this period; number of murders for personal vendetta decreased by 4.3% and property disputes led to 12% fewer deaths. In contrast, murders caused by love affairs (including illicit relationships) saw a 28% increase.
This has removed the lid from the boiling pot of sexual suppression in society. The motive behind each of these murders is as complex to understand as it is to swallow the gruesomeness of the acts committed by women, who have been viewed as victims of social discrimination for long. In most cases, money does not seem to be the motive; most victims seemed to be good providers; few had taken loans to keep their spouse content.
While wife-bashing is talked about and at times reported to police, husband beating goes on without a whisper for fear of social ridicule. Dr Prem Chaudhry in her study of 2005, on challenges of masculinity in Haryana, had found prevalence of husband beating in the traditional set-up. Men do not like to be seen as weak victims of gender violence in a patriarchal set-up. Their silence accentuates the problem.
Sexual liberation of women is another issue that remains unpalatable to society despite women’s financial emancipation. Pam Rajpoot, Professor Emeritus, Department-cum-Centre for Women’s Studies and Development, feels cases of mariticide are blown out of proportion because in a traditional society that India is, despite material advancements - motherhood is held on a very high pedestal. When a mother commits a crime like mariticide (Muskan has a 6-year-old child) it becomes unacceptable to society. It challenges all norms and values - triggering social churning.
Global trends suggest a rising number of males as victims of violence; though the number of women at the receiving end of violence remains much higher. The latest report of UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), released in Nov 2024, states, globally, an average of 140 women or girls are murdered in their homes daily. Nearly 58% of these acts are committed by their partners, husbands or family members. Of the total number of killings, 42% of the victims are men; suggesting that the gender divide in these crimes is not as extensive as it may have been earlier.
The old menace of dowry
The number of dowry related deaths will put the mariticide deaths in perspective. In 2024, the National Commission for Women received 6237 cases of domestic violence of which 4838 cases were related to dowry harassment, which makes 24 % of all complaints. The official number of dowry deaths in 2024 stood at 292.
The law enforcing agencies as well as the media seem to ignore dowry as a major issue of violence against women. Perhaps in a society obsessed with ‘progress and development’ dowry seems old fashioned and out of context.
Either a male is murdered or a female tortured; it rocks the boat of institution of marriage.
By Vandana Shukla
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