Fake divorces makes up a large chunk of the total number of divorce cases under deliberation or already decided in courts, at least in the capital, officials concerned and lawyers said. [break]
Divorce cases have literally swamped Kathmandu District Court in the last two fiscal years--1,039 in 2065/66 and 1,203 in 2066/67. The increase, however, is not due to genuine divorces alone. “There are a good many phony cases among the divorces we are handling,” said Arun Khanal, who specializes in divorce litigation.
“For two years now, I have been taking up around 50 divorce cases annually. Half the cases were undeniably unreal,” said Khanal, who runs Pathivara Legal Consultancy at Tripureshwar.
Three major undercurrents
In the last few years three major reasons have given rise to fake divorces in the capital--rumors of land ceiling implementation by the then Maoist government, financial disputes ensuing from sky-rocketing real estate values and the huge trend of youth migration abroad.
“These factors came in a sequence,” said Dinesh Acharya of Galko Law Firm at Thamel, which has been handling divorce cases.
Evading land ceiling
Officials at Kathmandu District Court remember how happy-looking couples flocked there two years ago to apply for divorces following media reports on the eve of the new fiscal year that the Maoist government was likely to implement its land ceiling policies.
The couples would just want to complete the entire process within an hour and quite amicably, with some of them even saying outright why they were doing it, said an official who has been working at the applications section of the court ever since.
A socio-economic reform package including land reform measures announced by then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2002 had triggered a flurry of fake divorces, officials said.
For lawyers, it was a boon time. “Legal consultancy offices were inundated with businesses,” Acharya said.
Saving trouble over property
There is a tendency to divorce to avoid banking problems, troublesome financial deals and family disputes concerning property.
According to officials, couples afraid of imminent action by banks have been turning up continuously at Kathmandu District Court. “I see the realty slump reflected in their faces,” said a senior official requesting anonymity for lack of authority to speak about undocumented issues.
“We have even found individuals who used this trick to prevent siblings from claiming assets that were earned individually,” Khanal said.
The idea is that no relative could claim property in possession of one´s former wife.
Legally, the couples are split up but there will be no practical change in their relations. “They seek advice from lawyers how to register their marriage again after a few years,” Khanal said.
Abroad dreams
Every paper marriage generally ends up in divorce sooner or later and exceptions only prove the rule. Legal consultancy offices in the capital have handled many cases of both marriage and divorce of the same persons as a business deal.
“Most of the clients return to us two to five years later after securing positions abroad. We do not know of any fake marriage ever turning real,” Khanal said.
This type of marriage and divorce is rife in the records at government offices. In Nepal, a marriage is registered at three places--local bodies (VDC and municipality), district administration office and district court. But divorce is possible only through district courts.
There are even cases of couples going through a breakup drama to establish single status before applying for visas.
“A DV lottery winner, who came back to Nepal after failing for two years to take his wife to the US as a spouse, faked a divorce. The wife later received a student visa. Recently, they returned again and registered their getting back into wedlock,” said Khanal.
A senior official on Wednesday showed Republica a file on a case in which a couple sought divorce 15 days after registering their marriage. “They did not seem to be spouses, and I sensed that from the very beginning,” he said. “They later told me while applying for the divorce that they could not get visas as a couple.”
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