Weird reasons cited by couples for divorce

Last week, a Noida woman filed a complaint against her husband after he sent her a talaq over email for being “too dark-skinned”. 

The 26-year-old research assistant at a city-based pharma company said that her husband had humiliated her for the colour of her skin right from day one, and that he had always emphasized his preference for a fair-skinned bride. While this might seem like a far-fetched reason for divorce, marriage counsellors and divorce lawyers in the city say that similar outlandish and extremely silly grounds for divorce – from acne and excessive weight to political party preference – all are cited by bickering couples in Noida.

He supports modi. She supports Kejri.
You know you’re taking national politics a bit too seriously, when not supporting the same party as your partner can make you file for divorce. Naresh Kumar, a divorce lawyer from Ghaziabad, recounts such a case. He says, “A couple had an arranged marriage in late 2013 and both were IT professionals in their mid-20s. They admitted it was almost a perfect match initially. The trouble in their paradise began in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when the husband confessed to being a big Modi fan while the wife vehemently supported Aam Aadmi Party.” Naresh Kumar adds, “After BJP’s landslide victory in the elections, the husband used to taunt his wife on her party’s poor showing. The arguments escalated and they both filed for divorce within two months, citing irreconcilable differences.”

Her acne makes physical intimacy impossible
Physically attraction is one thing, but a husband’s argument that his wife’s acne was grounds for a divorce seems a little harsh. Shilpi Jain, a lawyer who handles divorce cases, tells us, “More often than not, people give absurd reasons for divorce and say it amounts to cruelty and incompatibility. I remember this man who said that he wasn’t physically attracted to his wife because of her face acne. He said that since there was no physical intimacy in the marriage, forcing him to stay in it amounted to cruelty.”

She’s too fat to include in the social circle
A top executive from a city-based MNC filed for divorce from his wife of several years because she was overweight. Dharampal Singh, a divorce lawyer in the Surajpur court, recounts, “The executive was drawing a very handsome salary. He sought divorce from his wife for being too fat. He said that since he was in such a senior position, he often had to attend parties and events in his social circle and his wife being overweight did not reflect well upon him. He claimed that all his attempts to get his wife to shed weight had been unsuccessful and there was no way out for him except a divorce.”

She hates love stories
A lot of couples may have tiffs over what movie to watch on a date night, but for one Noida couple, that argument was serious enough to initiate a divorce proceeding. Naresh Kumar says, “I had this client from Noida last year whose reason for seeking a divorce was that his wife did not like watching romantic films with him. Usually its men who don’t like watching romantic flicks, but this guy said that his wife never showed any inclination towards watching such films with him and did not even appreciate the same actors as he did. According to him, this was a sign of incompatibility between the two and valid grounds for divorce.”

She dances with other men
A city lawyer tells us about a case from a family court in the city that came to him late last year. He says, “There was this couple – both working professionals from upper middle-class families – settled in Noida. The couple had been married for only a few months when the husband filed for a divorce, claiming his wife was unfaithful. He said that despite expressing his disapproval of his wife’s party habits, she continued to attend parties and go out with friends. He said that he knew his wife was not having any affairs, but her dancing with other men at parties was equal to being unfaithful, as she was sharing an experience that should be ‘reserved for the husband’ only.”

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