India, June 16 -- Till recently, we used to hear about wife beaters - aggressive male chauvinists beating up their spouses. Have things turned full circle? Are women the new aggressors - chopping up their husbands and sealing them in blue cement drums? Or the latest shocker from Shillong where Sonam Kushwaha of Indore went for an outdoor honeymoon to Shillong and allegedly hacked to death her newlywed husband Raj Raghuvanshi, dumping his body in a gorge near Cherrapunji, Meghalaya.

There are enough gory details in print, electronic, and social media. I won't add to them. My purpose is to dig deeper, not a grave, because this matter is much too grave for cheap puns.

Why are such things happening with increasing and alarming alacrity? It'...