India needs National Commission for Men?

By S R Ranjan:  Sorry to say, “Suicide is not a personal choice”. When all the doors of life are closed, it is the only door left open to walk through, as the last resort, to discard a life of ‘hopelessness’ and ‘helplessness’. It can never a be choice of a ‘living’ human being until and unless he/she is pushed to brink of the life, beyond the threshold limit of his/her capacity to endure the pain and torture in life or to coup up with life. Officially or unofficially, it’s the last desperate step a person, irrespective of factors and circumstances is forced to take to the end.  

In a recent court hearing, the Hon’ble Supreme Court refused to entertain a PIL seeking direction to frame guidelines to deal with increasing suicide by men and set up of a 'National Commission for Men' (NCM) to safeguard their interests. The issue of suicide may seem to have been “portrayed as a one-sided picture”, but a factual data presented by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) about increasing suicides case among men and women is a matter of grave concern for all us as no one is detached from one another and are connected to same family or the society we live in.

The recent NCRB data shows a change in the characteristic pattern of suicide deaths. According the data, across the country, a man commits suicide every 4.45 minutes while a woman every 9 minutes. It further shows that the rate of committing suicide among married men is three times that of married women. This indicates that today there is a ‘new pattern’ in suicide deaths and men are becoming the more vulnerable gender and depressing people who succumb to social, family and personal pressure. The nation, legal system, laws and society need to talk about it and deal with the unfortunate gender-neutral ‘human life crisis’ and address it based on equality and justice for all. It cannot be just looked as a ‘gender-centric comparison’ and ignored as a ‘non-existing’ or ‘misplaced sympathy’ for anyone.

Look into the both sides of the coin. Through the pages of history and time immemorial, the evolution of the society and people has seen and witnessed the atrocities and injustice done towards the women, and today we have grown and evolved in a better way and are still a progressive society, thanks to the changing laws, legal system, establishment of law enforcement bodies like the National Commission for Women (NCW) for legal remedied, Crime Against Women (CAW) cells, implementation of equality and justice at various places and empowerment of people, including the women. But, according to a research study, gender neutrality is crucial for advancing equality, eliminating institutionalized prejudices, and fostering a more inclusive and equitable society. Gender-specific laws, legal system and rules erode the Constitution of India’s fundamental principle of “equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws” and reinforce gender stereotypes. When we are growing as a society, and there’s national commitment of equality and justice for women, we have to also think for men as they almost equally constitute around 51% of the Indian population.

 As major advances have been achieved in addressing women's difficulties and supporting their rights, there is an equal and justified need to acknowledge and solve the issues of adversity and particular difficulties that men too experience in society today. Men too need legal remedies and law enforcement bodies like ‘National Commission for Men’ to address their legal and social problems and for their voices to be heard. Men's rights, well-being, justice and equality can be actively promoted by the National Commission for Men (NCM).

 At present, laws that are made for the protection of women are gender-centric to such an extent that they are being misused and a lot of men are being falsely implicated and accused. It has become very difficult for men to fight such false cases and prove they aren’t guilty. In recent years a lot of cases filed under the domestic violence, rape, dowry, 498A of IPC, and 125 of CrPC have been found to be done falsely with ill intention. But as the laws are very much tilted towards the protection of woman’s rights, even falsely accused men cannot do much for their protection.

 Today, there is no denying of the fact that men too can be victims of sexual abuse, rape, matrimonial disputes and cruelty, domestic violence, mental torture, etc. but there are no equal laws, legal system and law enforcement body like NCW, CAW, to seek legal remedy for such issues and safeguard their rights. National Commission for Men (NCM) will play equally fulfilling role in the society and legal justice system.    

As the country is getting ready for new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bharatiya Sakshya Bill and the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) it would be the perfect time to endorse justice as equality for men and contain protection laws for men too. National Commission for Men is the need of the hour.  

- S.R.Ranjan

 (Singh Rakesh Ranjan)

A Journalist

(Representational images, sources)