A new statistical study shows a strong correlation between a number of accused persons in IPC 498a and suicide of married Indian males.

Correlation coefficient denoted in statistical terms as ‘r‘ shows whether two different data sets are correlated. The value of ‘r’ if closer to 1 denotes strong positive correlation, whereas the value closer to -1 denotes a strong negative correlation between two independent data sets.

A recent study was done to find out correlation (if any) between “number of people accused in a 498a case” and “husband suicide in that year” has a correlation coefficient of more than 0.96 which denotes a strong positive correlation between the two variables. (Check this link for an easy understanding of calculating correlation coefficient)

Based on data captured from NCRB records from the year 2001, this study first finds out a number of new people accused in IPC 498a every year. This is obtained by subtracting the “number of people whose cases were pending at the end of the previous year”  from the “Total number of people for a trial that year”-

The Std. Deviation of the data “New persons accused in 498a in a year” is found to be 28, 130.

Similarly, Standard Deviation of Husband Suicide is calculated (For details of Standard Deviation calculation see this) –

The final calculation gives Correlation Coefficient (r) as

and the numerical value of r is found to be 0.965896115.

The Coefficient of Determination denoted as r² or R² is found to be 0.932955.

A Coefficient of Determination or R² value close to 1 denotes that the characteristics of one variable out of the two is very well described by the second variable. That means the husband suicide data is very well explained by the total number of people accused in 498a cases.

This analysis shows that no matter whether in NCRB records the reasons for husband suicide is mentioned specifically as a family problem or not these two data are highly correlated and husband suicide can be explained completely by the number of accused people.

This may be because of the protector role of Indian males that makes them a failure once they fail to protect their family members from false cases and related harassment. This is another clear sign that the effect of IPC 498a on Indian families have been devastating and is leading to the increased suicide of married Indian males.

Future study needed

A similar study is urgently required to find out the correlation between DV, CrPC 125 and Child custody cases and suicide of married Indian males. It may be possible that a combination of these factors is responsible for the suicide of married Indian males and NCRB data does not capture this information. The issue is worsened by the fact Indian males do not easily seek help from anyone (including friends and family members) when they are in trouble. This characteristics coupled with a sustained suppression of males’ needs in the society and govt apathy to look into these matters are worsening the situation further.

It is time that Indian MRAs understand this and take immediate action.

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