Man Stabs Wife During Karwa Chauth. When Will Husbands Value Their Wives' Dedication?

Women in India are no doubt dedicated towards their husbands. They respect them like God, observe fasts for them and always pray for their well-being and long life. But what do husbands in India do? Are they dedicated towards their wives? Are they supportive of them? And do they even respect them? Answers would many based on subjectivity. But when we look around, all we find is injustice in marriage. Before neglecting my point as baseless just tell me how many husbands observed Karwa Chauth fast for their wives yesterday? I have proof that a man did otherwise by stabbing his wife to death.

In the Azad Nagar Kotwali area of Lucknow, a husband reportedly stabbed his wife a dozen times while she was offering prayers of Karwa Chauth. He left her critically injured and absconded from the crime scene. Police reached the couple’s house and admitted the woman to the hospital immediately. While the reason behind the crime is unknown, it has been reported that even though the couple was married for 22 years, the husband constantly harassed his wife. Further investigation into the case is underway.

So what does the case tell us? Neither men observe the fast of Karwa Chauth nor do they respect their wives who do. Even though it is not true for every man in India, it is more prevalent. In India husbands never consider it their duty to respect their wives and reciprocate their care and love. It is always women who are expected to provide care and love selflessly without expecting anything in return. Just yesterday I wrote an article on how the tradition of Karwa Chauth is changing as men too are reciprocating women’s dedication by observing fasts. But waking up to this news brought me back to the initial question- Why are women expected to sacrifice in &t=6s">marriage?

It is shocking to even think that a man can fatally injure his wife on the day when she was praying for his long life. This shows the stark reality of insensitive men who commit domestic violence. They don’t value their wives and their lives. If something happens against their permission or mindset, that is enough for them to make the wife stand on the scaffold and be beaten to death. Neither a woman’s dedication nor love and care work when it comes to a man’s rage and fragile male ego. This is the reason why cases of domestic violence are rising at an unbelievable rate in our country. But despite all this, society always convinces women to behave decently with their husbands. Always women are expected to be quiet, selfless and dedicated towards their husbands.

But dear society, if a woman is being injured on the day of nirjala vrat for her husband’s long life, how much more dedication is required to calm her husband down? Do you even know what it takes for a woman to observe such fasts? Many women face critical illness due to consistent fasts for husbands, children or families. My aunt developed a wound in her intestine just after observing a series of fasts for her husband and children despite being ill. She has been hospitalised for more than two weeks now. How much should a woman sacrifice to just gain the right of being safe in marriage? When being safe is a woman’s basic right, why do they have to pay huge costs for it?

It is high time that husbands understand that their wives are not objects that are useful only till they please them. Men cannot hammer women down like toys which stop working the way they liked. Women are individuals who too have the right to expect happiness, equality and love in marriage. If they provide care, they deserve to be provided with love. If they observe health-threatening fasts, they deserve to be respected for their sacrifices if not reciprocated. Marriage is not about taking care of a man’s happiness alone. It is about mutual love, happiness and understanding of husbands and wives. So dear men, calm yourselves down, treat your wives as humans and respect them before your wives stop supporting you. It is time to educate husbands, not wives.

Views expressed are the author's own. 

Suggested Reading: How The Significance Of Karwa Chauth Is Changing For Women