MYSURU: While the fast and busy hectic lifestyles have made most young working couples adjust to ready-to-consume food, a husband sought divorce as his wife prepared only Maggi noodles. Principal district and sessions court judge ML Raghunath, speaking about matrimonial cases where couples file for divorce over petty issues, said on Friday that this case came up when he was the district judge in Ballari.
He said, “The husband said his wife did not know how to prepare any food other than Maggi noodles. It was noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He complained that his wife went to the provision store and brought only instant noodles.” Naming it the ‘Maggi case’, Raghunath said the couple ultimately got divorced on mutual consent.
Asserting that settling matrimonial disputes is a little difficult, Raghunath said most reunions happen because couples consider the future of their children. “We use sentiments to bring a compromise among couples and reunite them. It is more of psychological issues than physical. In most cases, though couples reunite, scars of their dispute remain. Out of 800-900 matrimonial cases, we succeed in about 20-30 cases. In the previous Lok Adalat, of around 110 divorce cases, reunion happened in just 32 cases,” he said.
Mysuru district has five family courts, each with around 500 matrimonial cases, and of them around 800 cases are for seeking divorce.
“Divorce cases are increasing drastically over the years. Couples have to stay together for at least a year before seeking divorce. If there was no such law, there would be divorce petitions filed directly from wedding halls,” he said.
Courts have received divorce cases by couples just a day after their marriage, for not talking with the partner, for putting salt on the wrong side of the plate, for stitching the wrong colour wedding suit, for not taking the wife out and other such reasons.
Stating that divorce petitions are filed in both arranged and love marriages, he said the former is like getting bitten by a snake without intention, while the latter is like intentionally getting bitten.
“We get divorce petitions more from urban areas than rural parts. In rural areas, village panchayats intervene and settle the problems. Women have no independence and their fear of society and family sentiments force them to cope with the situation. But in cities, women are educated and financially independent,” he said.