Waking to this news today was a welcomed change. As my mother herself was serving tea to my father, I read – “Wife is not a chattel”
What happened?
The Bombay High Court upholded a 35-year-old man’s conviction for assaulting his wife, saying the wife’s refusal to make tea for her husband could not be accepted as a provocation for him to assault her.
A wife is not a chattel or an object. Marriage ideally is a partnership based on equality. More often than not, it is far from that. Cases such as these, are not uncommon. Such cases reflect the imbalance of gender — skewed patriarchy, the socio-cultural milieu one has grown up in, which often seeps into a marital relationship.
The Case
The Bombay High Court upheld the conviction and 10 years’ imprisonment awarded to Santosh Atkar (35), a resident of Pandharpur in Solapur district, by a local court in 2016.
He was found guilty on the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. As per the order, Atkar and his wife had been having disputes for some time.
On the day of the incident in December 2013, his wife insisted on going out without making a cup of tea for him. The man then struck her with a hammer, injuring her grievously.
As per the case details and testimony of the couple’s daughter, Atkar then cleaned the spot of the crime, bathed his wife and took her to hospital. She succumbed to her injuries after being in the hospital for about a week.
The defence argued that Atkar had been provoked into committing the crime because his wife refused to make tea.
The notions of patriarchy and the idea that the woman is a man’s property still prevail in society, leading a man to think that his wife is his “chattel”, the court said.
The court further said an imbalance of gender roles exists in society, where the wife is expected to do all the household chores.
“There is an imbalance of gender roles, where the wife, as a homemaker, is expected to do all the household chores. Emotional labour in a marriage is also expected to be done by the wife. Coupled with these imbalances in the equation, is the imbalance of expectation and subjugation,” the high court said.
Social conditions of women also make them handover themselves to their spouses, the high court said.
“Thus, men, in such cases, consider themselves as primary partners and their wives, chattel,” the high court said.
The Bombay High Court said it is unfortunate that such a “medieval notion” of wife being the husband’s property still exists, and the wife is expected to do what her husband wished her to do.
The conclusion
Social media is flooded with feminists posts, that talk about gender equality and discrimination. While those posts and opinions are doing their bit, it is a judgement like this one that truly sends out a stern message in society.