The state police in Telangana have booked around 6300 cases of alleged dowry harassment and domestic violence against husbands and their relatives in one year. A report in Deccan Chronicle states that men’s rights activists claim that that Section 498A (dowry harassment and domestic violence) is being exploited by women to extort money from their husbands. Meanwhile, defence lawyers for men claim the wife has a mental illness when such cases are filed.

While women take to filing dowry harassment cases as grounds for divorce, men reportedly cite the wife with having mental illnesses like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia as cause for divorce. The report quotes human rights lawyer Gulam Rabbani as saying,“It’s common that the woman filing a complaint against cruelty of her husband is accused of having mental problems. Defence lawyers use this as an easy way out for their clients to win the case.”

The report quotes lawyers as saying that men cite mental illness to get away with not paying alimony and compensation, take custody of the children and take the property as well.

“The women suffer a lot due to the false allegations. What will they have if they are divorced on the grounds of insanity?” asks Rabbani.