Ranchi, Jan. 11: Sunita Singh (53), a resident of Doranda, has been forced to pass her old age alone as her septuagenarian husband divorced her recently calling her “illiterate”.
Notably, such cases of aged couples wanting to split, are on the rise in the state capital, said psychologists.
Though the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Ranchi office, has lodged a complaint against Singh’s husband, psychologists point out that elderly couples divorcing — after weathering many storms together — is not an encouraging trend.
Several couples between the ages of 60 and 70 are visiting the counselling centres of Rinpas and CIP.
Officials in the NHRC said the trend is not restricted to Ranchi. Aged couples are coming from Patratu, Giridih and Koderma too, they said, adding that they received 60 to 70 such cases within two months.
Doctors at CIP and Rinpas said they get new five to six such cases everyday.
Rinpas clinical psychologist Usha Narsaria said it was “really very surprising” to see couples like these. “They have grown old together and have grown children. When it is time to retire into a comfortable live, these couples are arguing and quarrelling and are unable to adjust. In some cases the wife might not be financially independent but still refuses to stay with her husband,” Narsaria said.
“Recently we came across two cases where their children had come along and they requested us to explain the situation to the parents. The couples finally agreed to live apart, one with each son.”
Ashok Mukherjee, who is associated with NHRC, said they have lodged a complaint in another case too. In this instance, an army officer in Namkum decided to leave his aged wife after 22 years of marriage. “They have teenaged children and the woman is crying for help,” he added. In both complaints, the NHRC is seeking alimony for the women.
Officials in Ranchi’s Woman Helpline also said they recently dealt with one such incident.
“Last December a Bengali couple, in their 70s, had come to us for advice. They started fighting in front of me and the wife complained that the husband always irritated her by digging out acrimonious incidents that happened in their past. She does not like this attitude. I could not help them in any way,” added an official.
