Live-in Monsters in India and the Institution of Marriage!

It's out of piercing anguish and pain that makes me write these lines. The fundamental fact of life is that it has always been imperfect. Nothing about human beings and their society is perfect. Perfection always remains a dream, perhaps the way God desires.

The institution of marriage was born and evolved out of sheer necessity. And, since a long time back this system had been marked as one of the most imperfect or even regressive ones. There were love marriages or arranged marriages, but it got proved again and again that there was no guarantee of happiness in either. Divorce thus has become the order of the day in almost all countries and with it women's liberty has been the thundering clarion call. Nothing wrong in that, absolutely.

But, what have we got as a result? Mangled and chopped bodies of women in all corners of our country? Yes, you can put in immediately a reference about the horrible dowry deaths, the honor killings, subjugation of the fairer sex within the four walls and the numbing atrocities committed in the streets, in cars and so on. Well, I must clarify that I'm not in support of any system created by the flesh and blood of humans.

However, the institution of marriage still has some advantages: marriages happen mostly between known families with their social status also known; things are always sorted out, allowing the boy and the girl know each other well; and of course, there is always a family support system in case the couple face problems.

But what about the live-in system that apparently grants full freedom to women to choose their partners and which in turn ensures women liberty? Well, how do they choose? From the extremely superficial and dangerous social media platform or from the casual working/drinking/smoking sessions? Okay, let it be, dedicated to the ideal of an equal society. But how do they know each other before deciding on a live-in relationship? Who are there to protect the girls who suddenly discover the monsters within their liberated four walls? Physical inequality is something that has to be accepted by all, and the concerned parents, despite living in a digital egalitarian world, still cry scandal or stigma in case of live-ins concerning their children and insulate themselves against any interaction. So, the girls are left alone to fight the monsters—fights they cannot realistically hope to win.

The emerging situation is in India at the moment thus suffocating and unbearable with the chosen male life-partners cum monsters killing and chopping the bodies of their supposed beloved, storing the parts in fridges or throwing outside and some perverts even roasting or cooking those parts. Again, no perfect solution for all such imperfect systems! The immediate solution that comes to the mind is that of granting a legal recognition to live-ins, although live-in relationships in India at the moment are not illegal either, in terms of at least a provisional registration and a certificate like in the institution of marriage. Or that of a mandatory courtship period in the process of registration? At the same time, the self-assertive girls should apply full caution and doubly ensure safety, identifying the true colors of the persons they're going to live-in with, and their families must not wave their hands in absolute surrender and instead, try to keep up social mixing. Besides, the politicians must desist from making brownie points in sourcing out the faith or caste or religion related identities of the perverted perpetrators, and instead, focus their movements on girl-safety and reducing crimes against women.