Plea On 'Increasing Suicides Among Husbands' : Supreme Court Dismisses PIL Seeking 'National Commission For Men'

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a Public Interest Litigation filed seeking guidelines to deal with increasing suicide rates among married men subjected to domestic violence and the setting up of a ‘National Commission for Men’ for dealing with such grievances. As the bench expressed disinclination to entertain the mater, the petitioner chose to withdraw the petition.

A division bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Dipankar Datta was hearing the matter.

“If you expect us to hold that these husbands have committed suicide because of harassment by the wife, you are sadly mistaken",the Court told the Petitioner.

The petition had sought sought for a direction to the Law Commission of India to carry out research on the issue of suicides among married men and suggested the setting up of a “National Commission for Men” for dealing with the issue.

The Counsel for the Petitioner submitted before the Court that the data by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on rates of suicide among married men was glaring. “My prayer is that there is no provision or avenue where I can vent before taking such an extreme step.” The Petition submitted.

“There is no question of misplaced sympathy for anyone, you want to project a one-sided picture which are not inclined to accept” Justice Kant orally remarked. “Can you give us data on how many young women in the country are dying within one, two or three years of marriage?” the Court also asked the Petitioner.

The Court also stated that male victims of domestic violence are not without any remedy and that there were adequate provisions in law to deal with it:

“In cases where somebody is actually harassed by the wife, or it leads to committing suicide, whosoever are the victims of the crime, his family members can file a case, they can prosecute the person. The law takes care of this, there are adequate provisions for this.”

The Counsel for the petitioner submitted that in Vishakha’s case, the Court had laid down guidelines which led to legislation, to which the bench responded that when the Court finds that the issues are justiciable, the Court will intervene. “Is this a justiciable issue?” , the Court asked the Petitioner.

The plea filed by advocate Mahesh Kumari Tiwari cited the NCRB data published in 2021 stating that around 33.2 percent men ended their lives because of family problems and 4.8 per cent due to marriage related issues in the year 2021. In this year a total of 1,18,979 men have committed suicides which is about (72 per cent) and a total of 45,026 women have committed suicide which is about 27 per cent, the plea states.

Case Title: Mahesh Kumar Tiwari V. Union Of India