Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj

Bhardwaj alleges to have been the victim of a false 498A case, after she and her cousin were charged under the provisions courtesy a police-complaint by her ex-sister-in-law; the issue was resolved in an off-court settlement involving a huge sum of money.[1] This brought her into contacts with Save Indian Family Foundation, and she has since often collaborated with them in demanding an outright repeal of the law or amending to a gender-neutral version.[9][1]

Women right groups and critics however note that the law has been already decriminalized to a large extent by the Supreme Court,[10] and that relevant crime-statistics when coupled with extremely high rates of under-reporting necessitate its presence.[11][12][13] The conviction rates were similar to other laws and given a high charge-sheet rate, did not corroborate with the MRA rhetoric about the law being mostly (ab)used to pursue outright frivolous complaints over trivial issues.[11][14][15]

Bhardwaj's personal episode also went on to serve as the motivations for making a documentary on the locus.[16][17][18] Martyrs of Marriage (2017) narrated first-person tales of various victims who alleged of being at the receiving ends of abuse of 498A and interviewed politicians, judges et al for their take on the issue.[18][16][19]

Bhardwaj campaigns against false sexual harassment allegations.[20][21] She had supported the #Mentoo movement, a campaign that was started in response of false allegations of the #MeToo movement in India and wrote about how the me-too movement turned men into disposable or collateral damage, sacrificable at the altar of the idea of protecting women.[20][22][23]

In the Rohtak sisters viral video controversy, she interviewed several witnesses and released videos that held the accusers of lying.[5][24][25]

Bhardwaj campaigns for the establishment of a National Commission for Men in India that would deal with men's issues including domestic violence and sexual assault.[26][27]