Bhutanese men get the stick from their wives

NEW DELHI (AFP) - The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, which is probing how to confront domestic violence, has found a surprisingly large number of men on the receiving end, state media said Friday.

Sonam Dargay, a doctor at the state hospital in the Buddhist nation's capital Thimphu, said he had treated husbands who spoke of sustained beatings by their wives, particularly on weekends and holidays when the men drink.

"Some are even emotionally shaken and complain bitterly about abuses by their wives," Dargay told the Kuensel newspaper in its online edition.

Kuensel said the "frustrated wife" of a reputed businessman locked up her drunken husband in the bathroom and refused to listen to his pleas.

"I am sick of his unruly habits ... he actually deserves more than that," she told the newspaper.

However, health ministry officials investigating the problem told Kuensel that rural Bhutanese women still saw the worst domestic violence as their men felt it was acceptable to beat their wives to show male dominance.

"I don't see anything wrong... I think it is a good way of keeping your wife on the right track," the newspaper quoted a 52-year-old farmer as saying.