Couples in cities of Andhra Pradesh not so happily married'

Visakhapatnam: While for many, marriage is the beginning of a new life, for some it is just a short journey. More young couples in the big cities of Andhra Pradesh are seeking divorce.

Around 50 per cent of divorce cases at the family courts in the cities are related to young couples. The legal fraternity says that illicit relationships, addiction to alcohol and vices, ego clashes, short temper and a few other reasons were major reasons for seeking divorce among young couples. Either the husband or the wife suspecting their spouse’s fidelity, even after marriage, is one of the major reasons for young couples wanting to break their marriage.

From 2014 till November 2016, the family courts in Vizag city have received as many as 5,315 new applications seeking divorce, in addition to the pending pleas for divorce before the courts. In 2015, the court received a highest number of 1,859 divorce applications. Similarly, in Vijayawada city also, every year at least 1,800-2,000 couples have been approaching the family courts seeking divorce.

Senior advocate in Vizag and president of Forum of Legal Professionals Kuppili Muralidhar said that in cities like Vizag, Vijayawada and Tirupati, a larger number of applicants seeking divorce are below 30 years of age (newly married couples).

It is not just the middle-class people, even couple from wealthy families  are also seeking divorce citing that they unable to continue the relationship with their partners and want to end the marriage. Interestingly, at least 30 per cent of the divorce applicants in Vizag, allege in their petitions that their spouse was having an illicit affair with their friends or colleagues or neighbours and that it has been causing acute mental pain to the partner.

Recently a newly married couple, both residents of Vijayawada, (the wife is a bank employee and husband a software professional in Bengaluru) had a problem. The husband wants his wife to quit her job and the wife wants her husband to stay in Vijaywada. Unable to reach to a common decision, the duo  ended their two-year relationship,  said senior advocate in the family court,  Vijayawada, G. Rajeswara Rao.

The most worrying trend in divorce cases in Vijaywada is that about 50 per cent of divorce applicants are filed by newly married couples. If the trend continues, divorce cases among young couples would further rise and there would be a need to set up more family courts, he added.

Today’s young women are educated and financially independent. The newly married women have strong opinions of their own and dislike interference by husband or in-laws. At the same time, the newly married men are focused on career goals, which also leads to disputes ending in divorce, say the legal fraternity.