‘Pay’ for divorce: Women forcing hubbies to shell out big bucks for freedom

BHOPAL: Some months ago, Divyendu, 28 (name changed) was struggling with his unsuccessful marriage and wanted a divorce. Now, he faces a dowry harassment charge and an extremely difficult task of arranging Rs 15 lakh. His wife has threatened to ruin his life and the only way he can save himself is by arranging the huge amount for divorce. Rs 75 lakh was the price another guy had to pay to his wife to free himself from the marriage ties and the relationship that was left only for namesake.

These are some of the many cases that have come to family court for hearing where the males were being forced to pay a huge amount only to get divorce.

Atul, 30 (name changed), an engineer by profession could take divorce from his fitness trainer wife only after giving Rs 15 lakh along with a pact of life-long maintenance of child. She said yes for the divorce only after taking the money. In another case, the girl has asked for Rs 1 crore in lieu of divorce. Case is still going on in the family court as it is nearly impossible for the boy’s side to pay such a huge amount.

“This has become a sort of trend. Earlier the daughter in laws of medium-class family would ask for Rs 2 lakh to 3 lakh at the time of separation but now they demand nothing less than Rs 25 to 50 lakh. Some even go to the extent of threatening husbands of putting cases of domestic violence and dowry for extracting money. Boys are actually blackmailed nowadays,” said Sangeeta Moharir, a lawyer at Bhopal district court.

“In genuine cases, the girl herself wants to get free as soon as possible so money hardly matters for them. But in cases where extracting money is the sole purpose, girls demand huge compensation from the boys as a price of their freedom,” Sangeeta added.

“In around 50% of the cases, the boy agrees to her demands as he is left with not much choice. Any guy would prefer paying some money than facing some more criminal cases against him. Girls often misuse this situation and laws to their advantage and extract maximum money from husbands, “said Noorunnisa Khan, a senior counsellor at family court in Bhopal.