Pakuwal, who once thought for her own divorce, explains her own experience, "We had reached in the state of opting for divorce after conflict among us, but I thought of living separate life and joining a job.[break]
." "But after our two-year-long separation, we found us missing each other.Now we are living a happy life and working for our beautiful dream to come true with understanding over our mistakes committed from each side in the past.
Studies show that the trend of divorce is increasing though the reasons may vary. Divorce cases in the past were rare.
The cases are defined to be persistent problems in the society as the couple promise ´miles to go together´ but break up their relations very soon, start a new conjugal life and again to choose separation is still a headache in Nepali society.
Kumar Paudel, a poor farmer from Chandragadhi, Jhapa, has no limitation of excitement when he got a chance to send his wife for a job abroad. His excitement did not live longer after three years when she returned home but chose her way to court for divorce.
Paudel had a dream of sending his son to a good school and building a house of his dream but it was shattered with his wife´s divorce proposal. Paudel´s brother-in -law (sister´s husband) Raju Neupane said he gradually began to share his despair with alcohol and he is struggling for life these days.
He fell sick many times and was taken to Kathmandu for treatment, and now we are providing our best treatment services for jaundice and liver problems by keeping at home, he said.
Cases of divorce are increasing in the last few years. Paudel is just a representative character. Concept of joint family to diminish, attraction to abroad jobs, women´s desires for freedom, domestic violence, conflict between the couple, unemployment problem, lack of confidence between the wife and husband, and influence of western civilization are claimed to be the major causes of the trend of divorce cases increasing in Nepal.
Among the many reasons, the property earned through foreign jobs is also connected with the cause of divorce in the district.
Cases of women to think of divorce and marry another person after garnering money earned by her husband and men to force the women for divorce following extra-marital activities with other women have been reported in large numbers in the country and it has been the matter of headache to the society of late, said Chief District Officer at Jhapa, Narendraraj Sharma.
It is even more appalling that lack of confidence between husband and wife and the divorce cases are on rise of late. Chairman of the Single Women´s Association, Jhapa, Rekha Adhikari explained that the divorce cases in the urban areas were severe as compared to rural areas and stressed the need for amendment of the laws to control the ´breaks ups´ of the marital life.
New generation not to want to live under others´ control, women to seek more freedom, and trend of not living in joint families in imitation of modern lifestyle have been increased in the society.
Tanka Upreti, Chairman of the Nepal Bar Association, Jhapa, recalled an incident that a girl married a boy and went to her parental home at the same day and later registered an application for divorce at the court demanding her share in the family some time ago in the district. That´s why he stressed the need of amending laws provisioned in the Divorce Act.
Nawaraj Dahal, report keeper at the District Court, Jhapa, said the existing law of the country has facilitated any woman to register divorce case demanding her share of property in the family any time.
Women are also found knocking the doors of the court for their identity after their life partner refuses to provide his signature when she needs it for making citizenship, marriage registration and other purposes.
Coordinator of the Legal Support and Counseling Center, Laxmi Khanal Koirala says around 50 women took their citizenship certificates on the parental base, only after they got divorce on the basis of wedding photo, letters and other proofs.
The women started to raise their voices against the violence and for their rights once they were aware which the men did not like and the cold spousal relations turned into divorce later, said journalist and Reader Chintamani Dahal.
According to the District Court, Jhapa, as many as 418 cases of divorce were registered in the court in the fiscal year 2010/11 while they were 531 in the last fiscal year. Among them, 425 cases were finalized. Around 50 percent of the divorce cases registered in the court are related to Bhutanese refugees.
The rules of court also allow women to directly file a case for divorce at the court, whereas men have to appeal through their Village Development Committee or the Municipality.
In September 2010, the Supreme Court issued a directive order to the Legislature-Parliament to rectify divorce laws that have been challenged as being discriminatory towards men.
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