Family matters: Counselling and compromise the buzzwords
A 22-year-old woman belonging to the the low income group had filed for divorce after her husband was mistaken for a thief by the police
A 22-year-old woman belonging to the the low income group had filed for divorce after her husband was mistaken for a thief by the police. The police had called on him for frequent interrogation,sometimes even at midnight,though he was earning an honest livelihood by working as a daily wage worker.
These acts of the police,however,disturbed the newlywed wife and she filed for divorce in 2008 in the Pune district family court stating she did not want to stay with an alleged criminal. The case was kept for settlement in the Maha LokAdalat held in the Pune district and sessions court in Shivajinagar on September 18.
After being counselled for around two hours,the wife was convinced that it was a mistake on part of the police. The divorce petition was dismissed and the wife agreed to stay with the husband. A follow-up of whether the couple is happy together will be taken after three months and if found to be positive,the case will be dismissed. If not,the divorce petition will continue in the family court.
“This was one of the 25-odd cases where couples were reunited after compromise and counselling in the Maha LokAdalat,” said Rajendra Tatar,family court counsellor who was also a panel member to decide family matters in the Maha Lok Adalalt.
Another counsellor Smita Joshi narrated a case where the wife was getting maintenance of Rs 500 from her husband after having separated from him. The case came before Maha LokAdalat as the husband refused to raise the amount stating that he had remarried and had children out of his second marriage. “He had come around 11 am and we had to counsel him till 5 pm,in between other cases,trying to explain that his wife was his primary responsibility. At the end of it,he agreed to pay Rs 1,000 towards maintenance,” said Joshi.Tatar said settling a case in a Lok Adalat requires a lot of planning. “We had begun our homework about two months ago,starting with shortlisting those cases which had the potential to be settled mutually. Then,we have to counsel the litigants to know whether there is scope for mutual settlement and take their consent to put up their case in the Lok Adalalt,” he said.
Owing to their efforts,a total of 65 cases (40 –civil,25 –criminal) were settled out of the 180 (102 –civil,80 –criminal) that were kept for settlement from the Pune district family court in Maha LokAdalalt.
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