Around 150 men perform last rites of marital relations, take dip in Ganges

Varanasi: Frustrated with 'toxic feminism' for destroying their families, around 150 men performed the 'last rites of their marital relations' with a dip in the Ganges.

Celebrating the 10th year of men’s right group, 'Save Indian Family Foundation' (SIFF), the men performed a ‘pishachini mukti puja’ to rid themselves of the negative energy left behind by their former wives as well as a ‘shraadh’ for their present and living wives, reported News 18. 

Rajesh Vakharia, a founding member of SIFF believes that Indian laws are biased against men.

“There is an Animal Welfare Ministry, but there's no ministry for the protection of Indian men. Should men be treated worse than animals?’ he asks.

These men’s right organisations believe that the laws and the ideals of feminism in today’s India have made it seem as though “it's a crime to be born as a man in India”.

The event which took place last week was a cathartic way for the men to rid themselves of their relationship baggage, said men's rights activist Amit Deshpande.

"Their peace of mind was taken away from them. The baggage of their marital relationship was tagging them," Deshpande said. He asked the participants to perform a ‘pind-daan’ of their baggage during the event.

One of the organisers, Anupam Dubey, told Hindustan Times that their fight was for the rights of men. He believes that there is bias against men and that feminism has become corrupted and was responsible for many families breaking.

"Many a family broke because of this form of feminism. We are against it. Equality means equality.” he said.

Vakharia said that he was motivated to set up SIFF owing to a personal experience where he was detained for five days after his ex-wife filed a complaint under Section 498 A.

“It took five years for me to get acquitted. I set up SIFF to campaign against all laws that are biased against men,” he told News 18.

One of the chief grievances of the organisation is existing dowry laws which they say have seen “frequent misuse”. Vakharia says that women with “ego issues” can file sexual harassment cases.

It is in such cases of abuse of the law that the men's right group steps in. They counsel the men and help train them to fight the cases.

Vakharia said that around 92,000 husbands commit suicide each year owing to mental torture stemming from matrimonial dispute. In contrast, around 24,000 wives commit suicide in a year.