Not just that; there have been cases of “honey trapping”, extortion, false charges of rape, dowry & domestic violence and abetment to suicide. A new social crisis
Sutanu Guru
Saurabh Rajput fought with his family for love. When his mother Renu asked him to choose between family and his lady love Muskan, Saurabh had no hesitation in choosing Muskan. In another manifestation of love being truly blind, Saurabh even gave up his merchant navy job for the sake of Muskan. On the surface, all seemed fine and they had a daughter. Sometime in March, Saurabh decided to come back to his house from London. He, Muskan and their daughter celebrated a birthday and pranced around at their rented home in Meerut for social media “reels”. Soon after that, Muskan and her paramour Sahil drugged Saurabh, stabbed him to death, chopped his body into pieces and stuffed his body inside a blue drum filled with cement. To top it all, the two embarked on a “holiday” to Manali to celebrate their love.
There has been a lot of speculation and a lot of theories propounded by amateur sleuths as to why Muskan decided to so ruthlessly murder her husband. Could she not have simple ended the marriage like tens of thousands of women do in contemporary India? Was it lust that careened out of control? Was it money?
Money could not have been a factor for Sonam Raghuvanshi from Indore. The daughter of a well to do businessman, she solemnised an arranged marriage with Raja Raghuvanshi in May this year. She decided on an impulse to go for a honeymoon with her husband to the famous Kamakhya temple in Guwahati, Assam and then proceeded to the picturesque hills of Meghalaya. Suddenly, the couple disappeared during a trek in the hills. Some days later, the body of Raja was discovered in a gorge. There were deep gashes and wounds. No one knew what happened to Sonam and most feared she too was a victim. As events unfolded later, it was discovered by Meghalaya police that Sonam and her paramour Raj Kushwaha had hired killers to murder Raja.
Raja Kushwaha was an employee in the company owned and run by Sonam’s family where she too played a role in the business affairs. The elaborate charade of a sudden honeymoon was exposed soon after Sonam, Raj and the other killers were arrested. But the mystery remains. If Sonam was in love with her employee, why did she agree to an arranged marriage? Surely she had the agency to refuse. Unlike a daughter from an impoverished background who was unable to resist social and family pressure?
There have been a rash of such cases. Even as the author writes this column on June 28, there was news reports from Ludhiana , Punjab of yet another dead body of a man being found stuffed in a blue colour drum. Soon, we will find out if the killer is another Sonam and Muskan or if the murder is of the “usual” kind. Throughout history, it has been males who have been responsible for committing violent crimes like murder. Males still overwhelmingly dominate this category of criminals. But there can be little doubt that more and more women are joining this notorious bandwagon of muderders and killers. Even if they are not directly and physically involved in the crime, they happen to be the masterminds who do the plotting of the murder.
Beyond murder, wives and women have increasingly displayed cruel and sociopathic behaviour towards their husbands and “lovers”. One of the most heart wrenching cases of 2025 was the suicide of the IT professional Atul Subhash in Bengaluru. Atul was 34 years old when he committed suicide in December, 2024. He married Nikita Singhania in 2019 and they had a son. Soon after that, they separated and Atul and his family members were besieged with cases related to dowry, domestic violence, unnatural sex and much more. Living in Bengaluru, Atul would be forced to travel every few months to Uttar Pradesh where his wife Nikita had filed all the cases against him and his family members.
The 24 page suicide note and 81 minute video that Atul has left behind is a gruesome story of the extents that a woman can go to if she decides to (mis)use laws designed to protect vulnerable women. And frankly, it is an indictment of hundreds and thousands of women. Judges in superior courts, including the Supreme Court have been frequently re,asking how a majority of dowry and domestic violence cases filed by women in India are false and meant primarily to extort money or harass erstwhile spouses.
Why are Indian wives doing all this? It is a matter of serious study for psychologists and sociologists. But the author has an amateur theory. In a twisted way, this trend of wives and women committing murders and more is a reflection of growing gender equality. All human beings-male and female-are capable of doing god and evil. In a deeply patriarchal society like India, women were largely confined to households and denied both freedom and agency. That has changed. Women enjoy opportunities and freedom. So a lot of them do good. And some wives commit murder.
(Author has been a media professional for over 3 decades. He is now Executive Director, C Voter Foundation. Views are Personal.)
