Rourkela: Marriage, a union of two souls and true minds, plays an important role in the formation of a healthy society. However, marriages are often heading towards divorce nowadays and couples are ending up separated. As per reports, divorce cases are on the rise in Rourkela smart city, which has a higher percentage of inhabitants who are highly educated. The separation between the couple is resulting in broken families and the children are the most impacted when their parents get separated. According to Rourkela Family Court counsellor Arati Choudhury, 400 divorce cases and 139 maintenance cases had been filed between January to December, 2022. This year, a total of 180 divorce cases have been filed here by May end.
Around 39 divorce cases were filed in January, 52 in February, 49 in March, 17 in April and 23 to date in May. The number is expected to go up by the end of this month. Over 300 cases of 2022-23 are pending hearing in the court. It is apprehended that number of cases may go higher this year than the previous year. She said that misunderstanding between the couple, failure in reconciliation and ultramodern lifestyle are the reasons behind the increasing number of divorce cases in Steel City.
Mostly, people employed in police departments, administrators, educationists, healthcare professionals like doctors, RSP officials and personnel of income tax are on the list of the people applying for divorce in the court, she said. Earlier, people used to take undue advantage of the dowry law. However, after amendments were brought in the law, the problems have eased a little. People visiting the courts in such cases are insisting on getting more maintenance.
In some cases, maintenances are being given more than once. As a result, this is destroying the mental peace of the opposite party for which many of them are resorting to suicide. This is likely to have an adverse effect on the society in coming days for which there is an urgent need to bring urgent changes in the Maintenance Act. People are also demanding alimony in cases of domestic violence. The pressure on the family court could be greatly reduced if people are discouraged from filing such cases in court.
Similarly, rampant use of various social media, women becoming financially reliant and lack of proper understanding between the couple are other reasons behind the increasing number of divorce cases in the family court. One of the main reasons why divorce rates are increasing is because women have advanced a lot in the past few years financially, socially, and economically. There is no great dependency on the other person for these things. Earlier women used to remain in a relationship even if it was abusive, such as dependency.
Today, they are educated and smart enough to take care of themselves without anyone’s favour. When contacted, social activist Harapriya Pattnaik said that the unnecessary interference of the bride’s side in traditional marriage is often leading to separation. Mass awareness programmes should be undertaken to remove these ills from society failing which divorce cases will only increase in the coming days.
