Saubhagyavati Bhava – A Blessing or a Curse?

July 28, 2012 | Filed under: Editor's Pick,Your Opinion | Posted by: Ankur Saraswat

Yesterday while I was fluttering the channels on my Idiot Box, I came across a daily soap(which I generally avoid as they actually sucks) and I couldn’t continue playing with the buttons of my remote. This one was different from the regular saas-bahu sagas. Its focal point was not giant bungalows, shimmering jewellery,trendy outfits or the pointless saas-bahu’s saazish. It unfurled an agenda that requires instantaneous attention. A wave of hate triggered in for those men who ill treat their wives when I saw a beast like man making his pretty wife eat ugly cockroaches just because she broke a glass when she was washing it.

Though there is no universally accepted definition of domestic violence against women and even I am not here to discuss the right definition for the same because it is not worth discussing here. It’s high time that we should focus on what needs to be done than just doing paperwork.

Slapping, beating, arm twisting, stabbing, strangling, burning, choking, kicking, threatening, female genital mutilation, wife inheritance (the practice of passing a widow, and her property, to her dead husband’s brother) coerced sex through threats, intimidation or physical force, forcing sex with others, verbal aggression,isolation,constant humiliation, denial of funds, refusal to contribute financially, denial of food and basic needs, and controlling access to health care, employment, etc are few of the oodles of ways of torturing innocent women. The question arises that Saubhagyavati Bhava is a blessing or a curse for such women? Is it a just society?

The most probable reason behind it may be dowry or sometimes the male ego has been hurt.

Here, I would to mention an incident that gave me a shocking realization that male ego might be one of the major reasons for domestic violence against women. I was nearly traumatized when one of my friends (who writes for a renowned website. I guess that means he wants to bring a change in the society) said that he will have a problem if his wife will earn more than him and his so-called ego(a special ego which he termed as male ego)won’t be able to swallow that. I was perplexed that a country with a woman president is a home of such people and I always thought that the president had the highest authority in a country.

It’s a stain on our society that no surf-excel or tide,I mean no government or NGO’s has been able to uproot it effectively. It is a humiliating fact that even after 64 years of independence no stringent actions has been taken that may pose a fear in the minds of people that they might think twice before doing such heinous crime.This is not a new problem.Since time immemorial son is looked upon as an asset and a daughter is considered as a liability.Though several acts have been framed and laws have been enacted but nothing could squash this termite till yet.

The need of the hour is the not the formation of new NGO’ s or some new bodies but the unification of all the bodies .Somebody has aptly said ”United we stand, divided we fall”. Laws are made but they are not effectively implemented. Though uprooting this problem may seem to be a herculean task but nothing is impossible. Support from government and efforts of youth can jointly pavé a path of success. Emergence of a sole body with powers to take immediate actions against culprits(most of the cases remains unsolved that makes people more gutsy to continue with nefarious acts).Society is craving for a body that keeps a check on the strict implementation of the already framed laws. So let us put on our running shoes and usher a new era,an era free from the jeopardize of domestic violence against women.

Saubhagyavati Bhava-A Blessing or a Curse?