A software engineer’s final message before ending his life this week has set off a national reckoning in India over family law and gender bias, with men’s rights advocates arguing male litigants are often pushed to despair by the country’s courts in familial disputes.
“If I win from the system, devote my mortal remains to the Ganga [Ganges River]; otherwise, in a gutter outside the court,” wrote 34-year-old Bengaluru-based software developer, Atul Subash, whose body was found on Monday at his home in India’s technology hub.
He left behind a 24-page suicide note and a YouTube video blaming his estranged wife, her family and the Indian judicial system for pushing him to take such a drastic step.
Subash’s family alleges he was a victim of extortion, saying his wife’s relatives demanded a one-time alimony settlement of up to 30 million rupees (US$350,000), a figure that had haunted the couple’s lengthy divorce case since 2021.
Subash also accused his wife of preventing him from seeing their son until he fulfilled her financial demands. In a part of the suicide note addressed to his son, he expressed deep sorrow and frustration: “When I first saw you, I thought that I could give my life for you any day. But, sadly, I am giving my life because of you. I don’t feel anything about you now except a tinge of pain sometimes. Now, you just feel like a blackmail using which I will be extorted more and more.”
Local police are investigating, while Subash’s wife, identified as Nikita Singhania, and her immediate family are in hiding.