BHOPAL: From extra marital affairs to family disputes, the cases coming at the Family Counselling Centre at Mahila Thana are no less than a movie script. From accusing husband on fake allegations to denial of husband to accept wife, a glimpse at the cases being handled by the centre shows how uninformed society is about the laws.
Case 1
Shazia (name changed), accused her husband of leaving her within a week of marriage and not contacting her for a long time. When the counsellor confronted them together, it was found that she was married before also and she hid this information from her husband after which problems started. After minutes of counseling, Shazia refused to live with her husband and said she would move court.
Case 2
Huma (name changed), accused her husband of not taking care of her and leaving their child alone. During the counselling it was found that Huma did not want to live with her husband. She refused to live with him, and also left her child in the counselling centre saying she did not want any of them in her life.
Case 3
Naziya (name changed) kept waiting for her husband who was called for counselling. She claimed her husband refused to accept her as wife saying he had divorced her 10 years ago. She informed the counsellor that she had proofs that he was living with her only. When the counsellor asked her if she had taken the meher, she said she had not and that she wanted to settle with her husband only.
Counsellor Mohib Ahmed said illiteracy among women was one of the major problems leading to such cases. “Ninety per cent cases are of domestic violence where the woman is not aware of her rights. This needs to be worked out and also many cases are reported where we find that the husband beats his wife, takes alcohol, which is again another major problem. Alcohol needs to be banned in the state as it can solve such issues to an extent,” she said. She also added that it was not that woman were not at fault. “We see cases where the woman is at fault and she accuses the husband wrongfully due to other reasons than just not taking care of her,” she added.
