Mate hate

Harassed husbands from across India will meet on August 15 to plan freedom from their wivesHarassed husbands will not celebrate a conventional Independence Day this year.Over a hundred of them, representing more than 30,000 from across the country, will meet in Shimla to decide on strategies to take on their wives.They believe they are trapped in a women-centric society, and say they won't celebrate Independence Day unless their demands are met.The demands include a separate men's welfare ministry on the lines of women and child welfare ministry, equal taxation for men and women, change in inheritance laws, amendment to the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, and mandatory joint custody of children for divorced couples.Like-minded organisations such as SIFF (Save Indian Family Foundation) and CRISP (Children's Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting) are part of the summit.We are fighting for independence from harassing wives, said Pandurang Katti, president SIFF. We want to make our movement more active. The Maharashtra's Purush Suraksha Sanstha and Uttar Pradesh's Pathi Paramesh Kendra will also converge at Shimla.We will be intensifying our movement after the summit, said Virag Dhulia, member, SIFF.Participants will come from 28 cities including Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Chennai and Kolkata. They first met in Goa last year.Husbands committing suicide because of harassment is double the number of wives committing suicide, according to SIFF.Over 1.2 lakh harassed husbands have committed suicide in the past four years. We will fight against such wives through this forum, Katti told MiD DAY.