It is not a common practice or desirable culture for a Hindu son in India to get separated from his parents on getting married at the instance of the wife, especially when the son is the only earning member in the family.

A son, brought up and given education by his parents, has a moral and legal obligation to take care and maintain the parents, when they become old and when they have either no income or have a meagre income. In normal circumstances, a wife is expected to be with the family of the husband after the marriage. What if she tries to seperate his husband from his aged parents ?

If you are still searching for the answer here we go. “A Hindu son can divorce his wife for the cruelty of trying to pry him away from his ‘pious obligation’ to live with his aged parents and provide shelter to them.”

In a recent case law, where a Karnataka-based couple married in 1992 filed for divorce because the wife wanted to separate her husband from his parents who were dependent on his income, it was held that a Hindu son can divorce his wife for to try pulling her husband away from discharging his duties to live with his aged parents and to provide shelter to them. The husband seeking divorce first quoted that he was filing for divorce because his wife blamed that he was cheating on her with his maid. It was found out that the there was no maid involved and further it was revealed that his wife tried to attempt suicide because she wanted to live independently with her husband and forced him to separate his parents who were dependent on him.

Supreme Court Decision:

“She becomes integral to and forms part of the family of the husband and normally without any justifiable strong reason, she would never insist that her husband should get separated from the family and live only with her,” Justice Dave observed.

A bench of Justice Anil R Dave and L.Nagashwara Rao said that after marriage a woman becomes a part of the husband’s family and has no right to separate him from his parents and to live away from parents is a westernized thought which is completely alien to us. Therefore, a son can file for divorce if his wife forces him to separate his parents and does not allow him to discharge his obligations.

The Supreme Court concluded: “The mere idea with regard to facing legal consequences would put a husband under tremendous stress.”

Twitter Reactions:

Most reactions on social media were questioning the rights of women, specifically the bench’s presumption that a woman must leave her parents after marriage. Here are some of the reactions from Twitter.

What about the part where women are separated from their parents? Or do we just ignore them because they’re women?https://t.co/uGfjfW4OPK

— Agratha Dinakaran (@Agratha) October 7, 2016

It’s not ‘desirable culture for a Hindu son to get separated from parents on getting married’. Really, Justice Dave? https://t.co/0hE4najImY

— Ami Sanyal (@switchshot) October 7, 2016

Why can’t ‘Hindu wife’ divorce for the same? But then women are married for that… huh https://t.co/jhsXPQTNBV

— Aria (@adagio_aria) October 7, 2016

@the_hindu What if the parents try to separate him from his wife? Can he #divorce them? Some of these equations are complex and skewed.

— LooneyBin (@radhagokhale) October 7, 2016

@iMeMoodi This law imposes an obligation on the woman to live with her in-laws or apply for a divorce. This isn’t helpful. @the_hindu

— Agratha Dinakaran (@Agratha) October 7, 2016

Source: The Hindu

Featured Image Source: Logical Indian

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