The Supreme Court will hear on July 3 – on its opening after six-week long summer vacation – a plea seeking setting up of the National Commission for Men on the lines of the National Commission for Women those addresses, amongst others, the issue of domestic violence suffered by married women.
The public interest plea by an advocate Mahesh Kumar Tiwari, listed before a bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Dipankar Datta, has sought direction to the Central government to frame guidelines mandating the police stations across the country to accept the complaints lodged by men relating to domestic violence, stress relating to family problems or marriage related issues and refer them to the State Human Right Commission for proper disposal.
The petitioner advocate has said that these guidelines will hold the field, in the interregnum, till the proper legislation is enacted for setting up the National Commission for Men.
The petitioner advocate Mahesh Kumar Tiwari has cited the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report published in 2021 which says that of the 1,64,033 people who committed suicide across the country that year, 81,063 were married men, while 28,680 were married women.
The petitioner advocate has further said that in 2021, “Around 33.2% men ended their lives because of family problems and 4.8% due to marriage-related issues. In this year total of 1,18,979 men have committed suicides which is about (72%) and total 45,026 women have committed suicides which are about 27%.”
The petition has also sought direction to the National Human Rights Commission to deal with the issue of suicides by married men and accept the complaints of men suffering domestic violence.
The petitioner Tiwari has sought direction to the Law Commission of India to undertake a study on the issue of suicides by married men, suffering from domestic violence or reeling under the stress of family or marriage related problems/issues that may culminate in the setting up of the National Commission for Men.