Recently, a court granted a Divorce to a guy because his wife insisted that he can’t live with his parents. A lot of blogs and articles have denounced this verdict and called it discriminatory. But I disagree. I think it’s a great thing. Here are the facts:
- Guy desperately wants to live with his parents (for whatever reason)
- Girl is 100% opposed to it
- Two people have non-negotiable demands
- And you expect these people to remain married?
So what’s wrong over here? The court absolutely did the right thing in granting a divorce! Does anyone really think it’s a fantastic idea to force this couple to live together with such diametrically opposite viewpoints?
I think the reason for the outrage is that the girl in India typically leaves her parents, and no big deal is ever made about it. But if it matters so much to the woman, she should make a big deal out of it! Don’t “adjust”. Don’t accommodate demands that go against what you believe in. In this case, if the genders were reversed, I would totally support the woman if she files for divorce saying that this is non-negotiable. And then let’s see what the court says.
We need divorce laws in India to become much, much easier. Why should a couple even have to give a reason for a divorce? Are they answerable to anyone? If they don’t want to live together, then that’s all there is to it. Their reasons are their own. In fact, it’s enough if even one person wants to get a divorce. A marriage is supposed to be an ongoing, consensual relationship. Like sex. You can’t have sex with the consent of just one partner right? Otherwise, that becomes rape!
So feminists instead of slamming this judgment, should celebrate it. They should encourage more and more women to put their foot down and file for divorce if the husband proves too callous to their needs. The solution here is to have more divorces, not less! The goal isn’t to continue the marriage at any cost, but to break the marriage when the costs become too high. If women “put up with it”, then that is not healthy. That needs to change. More women need to file for divorce, and leave bad marriages.
This ruling is a step in the right direction. Hopefully, it will encourage some women to seek divorce on the same grounds.
So can anyone else explain to me exactly, why this ruling is a bad thing? And what would you do if you were the judge in this case?
