Times
of India: Nagpur: Wednesday, 30 September 2015.
With
increasing literacy rate and fast changing lifestyle in cities, the institution
of marriage seems to be collapsing. An RTI query revealed that in the last four
years, the number of cases filed in the Nagpur Family Court has risen on an
alarming note.
On the other
hand, the number of cases which are disposed of through four family courts here
are on the decline which clearly indicates that pendency is continuously on the
rise. Over 7,000 cases were still pending by the end of August this year, of
which 48 are more than five years old while three are over 10 years old. On a
positive note, about 200 cases on an average are being saved from divorce after
counselling by the judges, mediators and counsellors in the family court.
According to
a reply filed by superintendent at family court's technical wing, 4,843
disputes were filed in the court in the last four years in four courts of which
227 for streedhan, 2,382 for maintenance under section 125 of Criminal
Procedure Code (CrPC), 235 for child custody, and 1,828 for divorce with mutual
consent. About 2,343 women were granted maintenance along with streedhan till
August 31 this year.
The RTI
application was filed by activist Abhay Kolarkar where technical wing informed
that about 78 persons are working with four family courts that included a
principal judge, three judges, one manager, eight counsellors and others. The
activist blamed the shortage of courts, judges and even staffers forever
increasing pendency of cases.
Some lawyers
with the family court attribute the rising divorce trend to increase in
literacy rate that led to ego clashes between the couples. According to them,
the society was changing from male dominated to the one having equal status,
especially in urban areas. With more women opting for employment and getting
equal salaries in comparison with their spouses, the ego quotient also goes up,
leading to disputes. They stated that numerous factors were responsible for
incompatibility between the spouses nowadays. It included extramarital affairs,
suspicion, liquor addiction, increasing interference of parents from both
sides, and infidelity, among others. Even the collapse of joint family
structure and emergence of a nuclear family where only couples live with kids
also led to increase in separation cases.
They
disclosed that earlier only those having problems in the first couple of years
of their marriage used to approach family court. Of late, many couples who had
crossed their 50s and even senior citizens approached court for settling their
disputes. Women filing false cases under provisions like sections 498 and
Domestic Violence Act in a fit of rage also led to many separations. They said
the ultimate sufferer in divorce cases were innocent children who had big
chance of suffering from psychological problems.
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