Bangalore, Aug 4 - On India's Independence Day Aug 15, a group of men will meet in Shimla and chalk out a plan for 'equal rights' and 'freedom' -- from 'harassment' by their wives.

'On Independence Day we will raise the issue of freedom and dignity of harassed husbands. More than 100 men, representatives of 30,000 other harassed husbands from across the country, will converge at a day-long meeting to come up with strategies to take on their wives,' Anil Kumar, president of the Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF), told IANS.

Bangalore-based NGO SIFF, along with another Bangalore based NGO, CRISP (Children's Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting), in partnership with Maharashtra's Purush Suraksha Sanstha and Uttar Pradesh's Pathi Paramesh Kendra have organised the event.

'All the four groups are working for equal rights for men and women in India. We feel that in many instances, the Indian law is biased when it comes to husbands, as it often favours the wives. Be it in the case of custody of children for divorced couples or false allegations of domestic violence and dowry harassment, the law generally takes the side of women, without listening to the side of men,' said Kumar.

'However, we would like to clarify one thing. We're no women haters. This is about equal rights of both men and women,' said Kumar Jahgirdar, founder of CRISP.

In order to prove that harassment of husbands was prevalent, Kumar cited the latest report of SIFF on suicide rate of men across India.

'Around 1.2 lakh (120,000) harassed husbands in India have committed suicide in last four years,' SIFF's president claimed.

The suicide figures were collected by SIFF from the National Crime Records Bureau.

'This is an alarming number. Our fight is against such wives and for justice to the harassed husbands. In fact, husbands committing suicide because of harassment is double the number of wives committing suicide in the country,' the founder of CRISP said.

Some of the demands to be raised at the Shimla convention by the husbands' group include a separate men's welfare ministry on the lines of the women and child welfare ministry, equal taxation for men and women, change in inheritance laws, amendment to the domestic violence prevention law, and mandatory joint custody of children for divorced couples.