Reverse #MeToo: This Maharashtra village saw effigy of a woman burnt on Dusshera

Aurangabad, Oct 22: This is also a case of #MeToo though the gender at the receiving end here happens to be the male. At a time when women in various walks of life are raising serious charges of sexual oppression against men, a few males recently came together in Karoli village near Aurangabad in Maharashtra to burn the effigy on Dusshera.

However, the effigy was not of Ravana, as the tradition goes, but those of Surpanakha - the sister of the demon king who had her nose cut off by Laxman after she offered to marry Lord Ram. These males are husbands who have alleged harassments at the hands of their wives.

These men are members of the 'Patni Pidit Pusrush Sangathana' (organisation of men facing harassment from their wives) and they decided to set Surpanakha ablaze to get rid of the curse plaguing their lives.

"All the laws in India are against men and favour women. They are misusing it to harass their husbands and in-laws over petty issues. We condemn this tyranny against men in the nation. In a symbolic move, our organisation burnt an effigy of Surpanakha on the occasion of Dussehra last evening," PTI quoted Bharat Phulare, founder of the husbands' organisation, as saying.

Mythology has it that after Surpanakha had her nose cut off, she went to Ravana to complain and he challenged Ram and Laxman for mistreating his sister. It led to him abducting Sita which eventually led to a decisive war between Ram and Ravana.

A few members of the organisation questioned the merits of the ongoing #MeToo movement while others said a high percentage (74) of married men had committed suicide in India.