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| In Valley of late marriages, divorces taking toll | | | Srinagar, Jan 01- On one hand the issue of late marriage is well entrenched phenomenon in Kashmir, on the other, divorce has also struck roots in Valley.
Marital disputes are ironically one of the least talked about issues but one of the most prevalent. Experts opine that although the practice of divorce is a recent phenomenon in Kashmir, yet it has great tendency to assume alarming proportion in the near future.
“Although no door to door survey has been conducted, I can say with confidence that divorce rate is increasing in Kashmir,” asserts Prof B.A Dabla, Department of Sociology University of Kashmir. Adding further he emphasized that the practice of divorce is rampant in urban Kashmir than rural society which is correlated with the impact of urbanization.
The height of irony is that as of now no comprehensive research has been done on this issue of major concern. “I have been consistently asking government and non- governmental organizations to provide me logistic support for conducting survey, however, they have shown laidback attitude. Moreover, owing to conservative structure of society people are not open to speak on this sensitive issue,” added Prof Dabla.
Acknowledging the fact that marital dispute is serious problem in Kashmir, Rahila Tabasum, Legal Aid Officer, Saddar Court maintains. “Every day we receive three to four cases of matrimonial disputes and most of the cases that approach us are so complicated that it later on ends up in either divorce or the ‘separation”. “Usually people below poverty line approach us for counseling as they cannot afford lawyer,’’ she adds.
Meanwhile, grand Mufti of valley, Mufti Bashiruddin, who holds a religious authority in this matter, stated that out of 50,000 marital dispute cases that approach him yearly more than 25% end up into divorce.
Terming separation between couples as more cumbersome than divorce, advocate J&K High Court, Younis Aslam said. “In most cases the husbands not only desert their wives but also refrain from shouldering responsibility though they are legally bound to pay maintenance”. He further maintained that being illiterate and ignorant of the intricacies of law, religion and even human rights in rare cases, rural women approach court to secure justice.
“J&K Code of Criminal Procedure section 488 deals with maintenance of wives and children. Nevertheless, in some case husbands resort to divorce because this absolves them from paying maintenance towards their spouses,” Aslam adds.
He further maintained that earlier marital disputes were widespread among people belonging to lower socio- economic strata, but now large numbers of elite couples also approach court especially for guardianship of child.
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