“Mard ko dard nahi hota” & “Mard kabhi rote nahi hai”
These sentences are a normal part of every man’s life in India. We are living in a society where we are talking about women’s rights, but men’s rights are going unnoticed. While we are openly empowering women, we have forgotten that men’s lives also matter and are neglecting them.
This blog is an effort to raise awareness and promote a fair and impartial approach to justice and gender equality. It highlights the societal and legal challenges faced by men in India.
The perception of men in society’s eyes is that of emotionless tools, used to fulfill the needs of different roles in society—as fathers, brothers, husbands, and friends. It is assumed that they should not show weakness in their positions as partners, brothers, and fathers, or else they are not considered “real men.”
This pressure from society frequently results in psychological and emotional problems. They are unable to reveal their vulnerabilities—even to those closest to them—during their weakest moments, even when they are innocent.
Biasness against Men in Court
The judiciary always claims to be fair and equal for all but they always have pre-conceived notions against men for cases of dowery, rape, alimony or sexual harassment etc. In these types of cases, they are always presumed guilty until they are proven innocent. This philosophy goes against the basic principle of ‘Innocent until proven guilty’ but Who Cares AFTER ALL HE IS A MAN!!
If a woman files a case against any man, he is presumed guilty in the eyes of society even before the trial starts. Even after enduring all the legal disputes, if he is proven innocent in the eyes of the law, in the societal court he is already declared guilty and no amount of court orders can change that. They always keep that notion of guilt and treat them and their family as one. His personal and professional lives are irrevocably impacted by the social stigma that exists. BUT AGAIN WHO CARES??
In our judicial system judges throw very widely used comments during bail hearings like: “Aree abhi to sirf 6 mahine hue, thoda aur jail me rahene dijiye, fir dekhenge bail ka” and casually reject the plea of a suffering man who is knocking at the door for justice—which is promised in the Constitution and other laws but remains only in books, not in real life.
On the positive side, HURRAY, a judge completes his/her coram of hearing cases and an advocate gets his fees—“Aur hume kya hi chaiye.”
Not only societal stigmas but the courts are also equally responsible for making these men into criminals, and the lower judiciary has the most significant role in this. They do not give bail or appropriate remedies because the High Court may question them and their judgments. So even in cases where there is no prima facie case to start the trial, men receive maximum sentences with a belief that they will get bail or acquittal at Higher Courts.
In India, it is very easy for women to file a case. They just have to narrate a story and then, as soon as a man’s name is disclosed, he is perceived as guilty. They have minimum chances of being granted bail and must fight the case all the way from the district court to the High Court and even the Supreme Court to prove their innocence.
The lady is not punished even if she is found not guilty or acknowledges that the case was fake. Furthermore, there is no compensation for the years of pain and suffering the man went through. Rather, he should be appreciative of the judiciary for clearing him after a lengthy trial or because the judge exhibited “mercy”. However, isn’t it the judiciary’s primary responsibility to ensure that no innocent person is ever punished in the first place?
Alimony and Maintenance Trick
In India, there is no commission or group to support men during these fake cases. Once a female files any case for maintenance and alimony during divorce, it is over for men—they are deemed guilty and now have to fight a rigorous legal battle to no end.
The Atul Subhash case is one of the recent cases where misuse of alimony was highlighted and brought the gruesome nature out. Atul was not only mentally harassed for the money but was also humiliated by the female judges—the place where he was supposed to get justice. Maintenance is something that the females now demand even after 1 day of marriage. This gross misuse has now increased multifold.
The courts tell unemployed males to earn money by doing menial labor but still give the required maintenance and alimony. It is as if they were solely responsible for the divorce. Even a working woman demands the same money as an uneducated and unemployed woman—and they even get it, which is the worst of all.
The arrest of the man and his family in these dowry harassment cases without a full enquiry results in financial extortion and social shame. Settlements for these frequently cost between lakhs and crores, and additional monthly maintenance is required. Women now use these fake cases to harass and defame the person and involve the family too.
Society follows and sympathizes with her till the settlement or divorce, and then when the case is closed, she leaves—but leaves behind disgrace and humiliation for the male’s family. The society now sees them only as dowry harassers. No family is willing to give their daughter to them and no one wants to associate with them either. Women are always in a win-win situation:
- They are seen as heroes for having the courage to file such a case.
- If they lose, it’s the judiciary’s fault for not seeing their suffering.
But men are always in a losing situation—and this time, their family is also used.
The Shiv Kumar case is one of the harrowing recounts of this gross misuse. Shiv Kumar, a newspaper distributor, became permanently disabled after his 2-wheeler got involved in an accident with a bus. His wife left him immediately after the accident and filed for domestic violence against him and his family.
Police, seeing his condition, suggested reconciliation. Later, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and after chemotherapy and five biopsies, he discovered that tuberculosis had spread throughout his body, leaving his right side paralyzed.
In this painful condition, his wife filed again for domestic violence and the court set Rs 4000/- as maintenance. Due to his disability, he was unable to pay the maintenance and had to go thrice to Tihar jail. The case has been going on for decades and now he has to settle the case for Rs 5 lakhs.
Imagine the situation of this disabled man who has no source of income even to pay for his medicines, and now has to pay Rs 5 lakhs for the settlement of the case. Kudos to our judicial system!!
The judicial system is going in the wrong direction here—they impose the alimony and maintenance costs on men but do not assess whether the men are even capable of maintaining the wife. They are expected to do menial labor work or even sell their kidney to pay alimony to a healthy and skillful wife.
Here a big question arises: If wives are healthy and skilled, why are they not expected to maintain themselves?
This is just one example. There are many unheard voices suffocating in this alimony trap with no escape. Here I’m not talking about genuine cases of dowry or alimony or maintenance given to someone who needs it—but rather about women who are using this as a legal extortion tool.
Nightmare of Men’s Fake Rape Cases
One of the biggest challenges men face today is false rape accusations. If you think divorce or alimony is the most significant issue, then welcome to the real world — where once a case is filed against you, there is no escape. Even if you are eventually acquitted after fighting a legal battle for 10–15 years, society will never truly spare you. You will carry the label of a “rapist” for the rest of your life, and you may even become your parents’ biggest regret—if they still consider you family at all.
After such an accusation, a man’s life becomes a living hell. According to NCRB data, more than 70% of rape cases turn out to be false. We look at these statistics and move on, but we fail to consider the devastating impact on the lives of those falsely accused men. This issue is rarely even considered worth discussing. And what about the women who file these false cases for personal motives? They face no punishment, which reflects the value society places on a man’s life—so little that anyone can destroy it with a false accusation, and society won’t even care.
We have the case of Vishnu Tiwari. He spent 20 years in jail due to a false rape allegation. He was arrested in 2001 and was finally acquitted by the Allahabad High Court after two decades. According to him, the case arose from a dispute over land and livestock.
“I never even spoke to the woman,” he said. “I just knew her as a ‘bahu.’ They just wanted money. I never imagined that their greed would cost me 20 years of my life.’’
Now that he is free, what does this so-called freedom even mean? His parents and both his brothers passed away while he was in prison, and he was unable to perform their final rites. His ancestral property was sold, leaving him with nothing.
“How will I start my life now at 43—without education, skills, or family?” he asks. His heartbreaking words after being acquitted reflect the true cost of false accusations:
“I tried screaming and crying, but it never got better inside the prison. Your soul dies every day, painfully. In these 20 years, I wanted to die so many times. I am 43 now, almost half my life is gone, and I have nothing to look forward to.”
Meanwhile, the woman who falsely accused him faces no consequences. Whether he is in jail or free, his life will always remain captive to this unjust system. This is just one case in a much larger picture—one that affects 70% of falsely accused men. Hopefully, one day the judiciary and society will realize that these are more than just statistics. These are real lives that have been destroyed and can never be recovered.
Conclusion
In the last, I just want to conclude that empowering one gender doesn’t mean that the other gender’s lives and their reputation are not worth it. We as a society, by trying to give justice to one gender, shouldn’t forget that the other gender has the same rights and his life is worth it.
After these incidents — one main question persists: whether marriage in the current time is worth it, or is it worth having a friend of the opposite gender? No men know when a false case comes to their head and destroys their lives and their family lives.
The judiciary is not doing any help either, and to say that they have helped society in having these perceptions about men is not wrong. I hope this article will help change the narrative to some extent of people.
End-Notes:
- Disabled delhi man crowdfunds to pay alimony (2018) India Today. Available at: https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/disabled-delhi-man-crowdfunds-to-pay-alimony-1192412-2018-03-18 (Accessed: 11 February 2025).
Written By:
- Astha Rajlaxmi, 4th year – Dharmashastra National law University, Jabalpur.
- Ashutosh Tiwari, 4th year – Dharmashastra National law University, Jabalpur.
