LOW POINT

The suicide of Atul Subhash is symptomatic of deeper problems of the law and its implementation

- PUJA AWASTHI

In a dim courtroom with forsaken walls, surrounded by lawyers, petitioners and spectators who have no business being present for the case being heard, a family court judge in Lucknow tells the 27-year-old woman before him: "If the husband wants to keep you, why don't you go to him?" The woman's choice, her petition alleging physical abuse, and the three years she has spent attending every hearing, dissolve into nothingness. Later, she tells this correspondent that the judge's remark made her feel like a piece of furniture.

The case of Atul Subhash, the Bengaluru techie who ended his life alleging harassment by his wife and her family, has stirred a frenzied debate on how laws to protect women are being misused. But as Nausheen Yousuf, a Mumbai-based lawyer with 17 years of matrimonial litigation experience, says, "To misuse the law, you first need to know it. How many women have that privilege?" And, by extension, how many men?

In Subhash's case, we know one side of the story. We know it because of a well-made, viral video. But it cannot be the only side. Just as Subhash's cannot be a wholly false narrative.