Novelist Jennifer Weiner in the book Fly Away Home said: "Divorce isn't such a tragedy. A tragedy's staying in an unhappy marriage, teaching your children the wrong things about love. Nobody ever died of divorce." But this couple will probably disagree as their divorce seems more like a tragedy than a court procedure that numerous people worldwide go through each day.
A New Delhi court has granted a divorce to a couple after a 20-year legal battle, reported India Today. While this might sound ordinary – lots of people split right? – what is weird is that the couple was married for just 20 days. Well, that is a bit too much to take.
Thirumoorthy Ramakrishnan, 53, and Subhashini Bala Subramanian, 49, met through a matrimonial advertisement and tied the knot in 1998. While the newly-wed couple was on their way to a few temples, Subhashini was arrested from Ooty in a case of misappropriation of funds. The 29-year-old woman was then brought to Delhi, where she was investigated for the said charges.
Meanwhile, the husband too was interrogated numerous times, with the police frequenting his workplace and also checking his accounts. Thirumoorthy then moved court for dissolution of the marriage and said that Subhashini had also lied to him about herself and her profession.
However, the wife has denied the allegations regarding the case and also accused Thirumoorthy of abandoning her.
The Delhi court has now granted the couple a divorce and explained that the hurdles so early in the marriage resulted in immense mental stress to the husband. "Protracted legal battles in our system end up spoiling a person's life," Saurabh Chauhan, Thirumoorthy's counsel, told India Today. "A marriage going bad is an accident. It can happen to anyone. Had the divorce been granted in a year or two, my client could have remarried and have had a family now and led a normal life. He is an old man now and not in a state to marry. Instead of getting relief, the long battles themselves become the problem."
Dharmesh Sharma, the principal judge of the family court, too agreed that the procedure took too long, but also said that the parties' counsel too could be responsible for the delay.
"Unfortunate as it may look, this case is coming up for final decision after nineteen years of its institution initially before the family court. Most unfortunate aspect of this case is that the parties cohabited hardly for about 20 days before calamity struck the newly married bride, having pernicious repercussions on the mindset of her husband," Sharma said.
