India: Men to celebrate marriage dissolution at event in Bhopal

The ceremony for 18 men who were granted divorce after long-drawn legal battles will be held on September 18

By PTI

Published: Sun 11 Sep 2022, 9:58 PM

An NGO in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal city is organising a ceremony for 18 men who were granted divorce after long-drawn legal battles and paying hefty alimony to end ‘bad’ marriages.

The event is being organised by Bhai Welfare Society, an NGO registered since 2014, which runs a helpline for men seeking divorce. The programme called Vivah Vichchhedan Samaroh (marriage dissolution function) will be held on September 18 at a resort located in the outskirts of the capital city, an official from the NGO said.

“It was a get-together, but the invitation of the event meant for a small group, went viral on social media. I am now receiving calls from people who are opposing it, claiming that it is against Indian culture,” the organisation’s convenor Zaki Ahmed said on Sunday.

The society will redress the objections, if such people ask to drop any of the functions of the event, he said.

People in the group were already celebrating their divorce, after long-drawn battles and paying huge alimony to get out of “bad” marriages, he said.

“We don’t support divorce, but a bad marriage leads to harassment and sometimes suicide. We want to stop it. Our organisation is providing free legal help to such people and counselling them to prevent them from taking extreme steps,” Ahmed said.

As many as 18 persons who were awarded divorce in the last two to three years will participate in the event, he said.

People were celebrating dissolution of marriages in the group earlier as well, but could not organise a get-together due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he added.

The invite for the event states that Bhai Welfare Society is holding first such programme in the country after winning “cases of dowry harassment, CrPC 125 (the case if husband has contracted marriage with another woman or keeps a mistress), Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005)”.

Engineers, doctors and other working professionals, who have been victims of such cases, are members of the society, Ahmed said.