FOR A LOT OF MEN, ‘I DO’ MEANS ‘I DIE’
Statistics show that men make up a majority of suicides committed by married people
They say marriages are made in heaven and solemnised on earth. But what happens after you’re married? Of all the 1,34,599 suicides last year in India, a staggering 93,207 suicides were committed by married people, representing almost 70% of all suicides in 2010.
Of all the suicides committed by married people last year, it is men who outnumber women. As against 61,453 married men, 31,754 married women committed suicide during 2010.
A ZRG analysis of Home ministry’s National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data reveals that the number of married men committing suicide last year was as high as 70.5% of all suicides committed by men during the year. Married women too formed a significant 65.7% of all the women who committed suicide last year.
The analysis further shows that the overall male tendency to commit suicide has been on the rise over the years. The number of male suicidal victims has increased from 72,651 in 2004 to 87,180 during 2010. Last year, of the total 369 suicides committed daily, 239 were men.
Male suicide has been on the rise over the years, with the suicide rate growing for men by 16.7% since 2004 as against 13.4% for women. The gender percentage gap (men to women suicide variation) grew from 43.5% in 2004 to 45.6% in 2010.
Giving a scientific reason for the rising number of male suicides, doctor Sameer Malhotra, the head of psychiatry division at Fortis Hospital says, “Lifestyle pressures, exacerbated by financial inadequacies, force men, especially married men, to commit suicide.”
With more and more married men being driven to the extreme, men’s rights bodies are up in arms. Expressing deep concern over the present scenario, Atit Rajpara, xpresident of Men’s Rights Association said, “Year after year, more and more husbands are committing suicide and despite efforts by men’s rights groups to create awareness about the same, the message seems to be falling on deaf ears.” The problem seems to be too personal to get sorted externally.
Ironically, marriage means trouble for men is also borne by another piece of interesting statistic, again from the NCRB: Lower suicide cases were registered amongst divorcee men in comparison to divorcee women during 2010.
Objecting to the “prejudiced” mentality against men, Rajpara from the Men’s Rights Association argues that “Husbands are subjected to inhuman and unconstitutional laws like Section 498A of IPC, wherein, an uninvestigated complaint by the wife can land the husband’s family in jail, or even the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, wherein the husband can lose his hard-earned property owing to allegations of domestic violence, even without a fair trial. This shows how biased we are when we talk of equality.”
Marriage, and then age, both seem to be giving men the stick. The home ministry data further shows that majority suicide victims among men were found within the age group of 30-44 years of age, while in the case of females, it was the 15-29 years age group that registered higher suicides.
Reasons doctor Malhotra at Fortis, “Men lack social support and thus can’t vent their feelings. It’s true that the level of depression in men may be lesser than women, but isolation and loneliness in men leads them to opt for lethal ways for a solution in comparison to women.”
Statistics show that men make up a majority of suicides committed by married people
They say marriages are made in heaven and solemnised on earth. But what happens after you’re married? Of all the 1,34,599 suicides last year in India, a staggering 93,207 suicides were committed by married people, representing almost 70% of all suicides in 2010.
Of all the suicides committed by married people last year, it is men who outnumber women. As against 61,453 married men, 31,754 married women committed suicide during 2010.
A ZRG analysis of Home ministry’s National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data reveals that the number of married men committing suicide last year was as high as 70.5% of all suicides committed by men during the year. Married women too formed a significant 65.7% of all the women who committed suicide last year.
The analysis further shows that the overall male tendency to commit suicide has been on the rise over the years. The number of male suicidal victims has increased from 72,651 in 2004 to 87,180 during 2010. Last year, of the total 369 suicides committed daily, 239 were men.
Male suicide has been on the rise over the years, with the suicide rate growing for men by 16.7% since 2004 as against 13.4% for women. The gender percentage gap (men to women suicide variation) grew from 43.5% in 2004 to 45.6% in 2010.
Giving a scientific reason for the rising number of male suicides, doctor Sameer Malhotra, the head of psychiatry division at Fortis Hospital says, “Lifestyle pressures, exacerbated by financial inadequacies, force men, especially married men, to commit suicide.”
With more and more married men being driven to the extreme, men’s rights bodies are up in arms. Expressing deep concern over the present scenario, Atit Rajpara, xpresident of Men’s Rights Association said, “Year after year, more and more husbands are committing suicide and despite efforts by men’s rights groups to create awareness about the same, the message seems to be falling on deaf ears.” The problem seems to be too personal to get sorted externally.
Ironically, marriage means trouble for men is also borne by another piece of interesting statistic, again from the NCRB: Lower suicide cases were registered amongst divorcee men in comparison to divorcee women during 2010.
Objecting to the “prejudiced” mentality against men, Rajpara from the Men’s Rights Association argues that “Husbands are subjected to inhuman and unconstitutional laws like Section 498A of IPC, wherein, an uninvestigated complaint by the wife can land the husband’s family in jail, or even the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, wherein the husband can lose his hard-earned property owing to allegations of domestic violence, even without a fair trial. This shows how biased we are when we talk of equality.”
Marriage, and then age, both seem to be giving men the stick. The home ministry data further shows that majority suicide victims among men were found within the age group of 30-44 years of age, while in the case of females, it was the 15-29 years age group that registered higher suicides.
Reasons doctor Malhotra at Fortis, “Men lack social support and thus can’t vent their feelings. It’s true that the level of depression in men may be lesser than women, but isolation and loneliness in men leads them to opt for lethal ways for a solution in comparison to women.”
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