A wedding is supposed to symbolize trust. Marriage is meant to be a promise of companionship, safety, and commitment. Yet, a series of shocking cases across India has transformed what should have been stories of love into stories of betrayal, conspiracy, and death.

From honeymoon murder plots to bodies hidden in cement drums, from contract killings to dismemberment, the past year has witnessed an unsettling stream of cases in which women have been accused of murdering their husbands or partners. These incidents have dominated television debates, social media feeds, and dinner-table conversations, raising difficult questions about relationships, mental health, and the future of marriage itself.

But before society rushes to draw conclusions, one principle must remain non-negotiable: crime is not gender-specific. Murder does not become less horrific because a woman commits it, nor does it become more understandable because the victim is a man. A crime remains a crime. The law must punish the guilty regardless of gender, social status, or public sympathy.

At the same time, these cases deserve deeper examination not because women are suddenly becoming more violent, but because they expose troubling psychological and social dynamics that are increasingly surfacing within intimate relationships.

A Disturbing Pattern of Betrayal

The cases themselves read like crime thrillers.

The nation was stunned by the Sonam Raghuvanshi case, in which a newlywed husband was allegedly murdered during what was supposed to be a honeymoon. What began as a missing-person mystery eventually transformed into a murder investigation that captivated the country.

Then came the Meerut "cement drum" case. Former merchant navy officer Saurabh Rajput was allegedly drugged, stabbed to death, and his body concealed inside a cement-filled drum. Investigators accused his wife, Muskan Rastogi, and her lover Sahil Shukla of plotting the murder to remove an obstacle from their lives.

In Bengaluru, former Director General and Inspector General of Police Om Prakash was found murdered at his residence. His wife Pallavi was arrested, and reports later revealed she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, adding a significant mental-health dimension to the case.

The Greater Noida case exposed another horrifying allegation. Retired Army soldier Devendra Kumar was allegedly murdered by his wife Maya Devi, her lover Anil Yadav, and accomplices. Investigators alleged that the body was chopped into six pieces, discarded near a riverbank, and a false missing complaint was filed to divert suspicion.

In Haryana's Bhiwani district, local YouTuber Ravina and her alleged lover and collaborator Suresh Raghav were accused of strangling her husband Praveen. CCTV footage reportedly showed the duo transporting the body on a motorcycle before disposing of it in a drain. Investigators suggested that objections to her extramarital relationship and social-media lifestyle became a trigger for conflict.

Another case from Uttar Pradesh involved Pragati Yadav, who allegedly conspired with a long-time lover just days after an arranged marriage. Police alleged that contract killers were hired to eliminate her husband Dilip Yadav.

Most recently, the Lohagad Fort case shocked India. Ketan Agarwal, the son of a prominent businessman, was preparing for a lavish wedding reportedly involving a Rs 17-crore palace booking and private aircraft for guests. Instead, investigators allege he was lured to Lohagad Fort by his fiancée Siya Goyal and murdered with the help of her lover. What was initially presented as an accidental fall allegedly turned out to be a premeditated conspiracy after investigators examined call records, location data, and inconsistencies in statements.

Different locations. Different backgrounds. Different motives.

Yet one common thread appears repeatedly: intimate relationships turning into battlefields.

The Psychology Behind These Crimes

The immediate temptation is to search for a single explanation. Unfortunately, human behaviour rarely works that way.

Mental-health experts cited in recent analyses argue that emotional dysfunction, poor coping mechanisms, impaired impulse control, inability to handle rejection, and distorted emotional reasoning may contribute to some of these crimes. According to experts, many individuals struggle to navigate relationship conflict, resentment, betrayal, possessiveness, or dissatisfaction through healthy channels. Instead of ending a relationship, seeking counselling, or pursuing legal separation, some resort to extreme and criminal actions.

Psychologists often describe this as a failure of adaptive coping.

Every relationship experiences conflict. Every marriage encounters disappointment. Every individual faces emotional pain at some point. The overwhelming majority process these experiences without violence. The small minority who turn to murder often display a dangerous combination of entitlement, emotional immaturity, obsession, desperation, or inability to tolerate perceived obstacles.

Many recent cases involve extramarital relationships. That is important because the psychology of forbidden relationships frequently involves cognitive distortion. The lawful spouse gradually stops being viewed as a person and starts being viewed as a problem. Once that psychological shift occurs, morality can become secondary to desire.

The thinking becomes dangerously simple:

"If only this person were gone, my life would be better."

For psychologically healthy individuals, that thought remains fleeting and unacceptable. For criminal minds, it can become a plan.

The Role of Mental Health Without Excusing Crime

Mental illness should neither be ignored nor misused.

Certain psychiatric disorders can affect judgment, emotional regulation, perception, and behaviour. The Bengaluru case involving Pallavi illustrates why mental-health evaluations are often crucial in criminal investigations.

However, society must avoid two equally harmful extremes. The first is assuming every accused woman must be mentally ill. The second is assuming mental illness automatically removes accountability. Neither position is supported by evidence.

Most people living with mental-health conditions never commit violent crimes. Conversely, many murders are committed by individuals who are not clinically mentally ill but who make deliberate and calculated decisions.

Premeditated acts involving planning, evidence concealment, hired killers, false missing complaints, staged accidents, or elaborate cover-ups generally indicate conscious decision-making rather than momentary psychological breakdowns.

Mental health can be a factor. It is not always the explanation. And it is never a blanket excuse.

Why Are These Cases Generating Such Intense Reactions?

Part of the answer lies in expectations.

Historically, public narratives around domestic violence and intimate-partner homicide have often focused, rightly, on women as victims. Statistical data continues to show that women remain disproportionately affected by many forms of domestic violence.

But when women become perpetrators, the cases generate extraordinary attention because they challenge deeply rooted social assumptions.

Many people unconsciously view women as caregivers, nurturers, and protectors. When a woman is accused of orchestrating a murder, especially against a husband or fiancé, the psychological shock is greater because it violates those expectations.

Yet that reaction can create another problem. Society starts searching for gender-based explanations instead of criminal explanations. The discussion quickly shifts from "Why did this individual commit murder?" to "Why are women doing this?"

That is the wrong question. The correct question is: why do some people become capable of murdering those closest to them? Because the answer applies to both men and women.

Crime Has No Gender

One of the most dangerous consequences of recent cases is the temptation to turn them into a gender war.

That would be a serious mistake. Women have committed horrific crimes. Men have committed horrific crimes.

India continues to witness numerous cases of wives murdered by husbands, dowry deaths, honour killings, domestic abuse, and intimate-partner violence involving male perpetrators. Likewise, recent cases involving female perpetrators deserve equal legal scrutiny and public attention.

Justice cannot operate on selective outrage. A victim's gender should not determine the level of sympathy. A perpetrator's gender should not determine the severity of accountability.

Equal rights demand equal responsibility. If society wants gender equality in principle, it must also accept gender-neutral accountability in practice. The law should see only two categories: victim and offender. Nothing else.

Is Marriage Becoming Dangerous?

This is perhaps the most uncomfortable question raised by these cases.

Many young Indians increasingly wonder whether marriage is becoming a risky proposition. The concern is understandable. Every week seems to bring another headline involving betrayal, infidelity, manipulation, violence, or murder. Social media amplifies these stories, making them feel omnipresent even when they remain statistically rare. Yet perception matters.

Trust is the foundation of marriage. When public discourse becomes saturated with stories of spouses plotting against one another, trust inevitably suffers. Young men become fearful. Young women become fearful. Families become suspicious. Relationships begin with caution instead of confidence.

The result is a growing emotional distance that weakens the very institution people are trying to protect. Marriage was historically built on social obligation. Modern marriage is built on trust. And trust, once damaged, is difficult to restore.

The Crisis Beneath the Crimes

Perhaps the larger issue is not murder itself but what these murders reveal.

They expose a society struggling with emotional regulation. They expose people entering marriages they do not want. They expose unresolved affairs, poor communication, family pressures, unrealistic expectations, and an inability to leave relationships ethically.

In many cases, divorce remains stigmatized. Separation is feared. Family honour is prioritized. Appearances matter more than emotional reality.

The result is that some individuals remain trapped in relationships they no longer want, while others attempt to control relationships they cannot sustain. Most never become violent. A few do. And when they do, the consequences are irreversible.

The Way Forward

The lesson from these cases is not that women are becoming more dangerous. Nor is it that marriage itself is broken.

The real lesson is that relationships require emotional maturity, honesty, accountability, and healthy exits. People must feel free to leave relationships without fear of stigma. Mental-health support must become more accessible. Relationship counselling should be normalized.

Families must stop forcing marriages that one or both parties do not genuinely want. And above all, society must stop treating violence differently based on the gender of the perpetrator.

The Sonam Raghuvanshi case, the Meerut cement-drum murder, the Om Prakash killing, the Greater Noida dismemberment case, the Bhiwani YouTuber case, the Pragati Yadav conspiracy, and the Lohagad Fort tragedy are all reminders of the same truth: when obsession, resentment, deception, and emotional dysfunction replace communication and accountability, relationships can become dangerously destructive.

The answer is not gender-based blame. The answer is individual responsibility. Because whether the killer is a husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, lover, or fiancé, the principle remains unchanged:

A murder is a murder. And justice should never depend on who committed it.

With inputs from agencies

Image Source: Multiple agencies

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