Divorce rate on the rise

Popular singer and composer SI Tutul married television presenter Sharmina Siraj Sonia on July 4 in the USA.

In the face of questions from media, SI Tutul disclosed that he had been separated from his ex-wife popular actress Tania Ahmed for the last five years.

“We officially got divorced last year,” Tutul said.

Marriage and Divorce Registration insiders say divorce news of popular people spreads shortly because of popularity but the hidden seen of divorce rate in the Dhaka city or country is awful.

More than 20 marital relationships are broken in a day in Dhaka city area, they said. Majority of divorce applications are served by women.

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) received a total of 52,904 divorce notices from applicants. Of them, 34,465 were received from women between 2011 and 2021.

DNCC received 7,414 divorce notices in 2021 where 4,081 divorce letters were submitted by women. That means 65 per cent of divorce letters are served by women. Of them, jobholders women are at the top of the list.

In the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) area, a total of 7,245 divorce notices were filed in 2021. Of them, 5,183 came from wives. In 2020 a total ot 6, 345 divorce notices were filed while the number was 6,360 in 2019.

According to the 2022 Census of Bangladesh, a total of 0.42 per cent of people are divorced and 0.37 per cent are separated. Divorce rate is more in Rajshahi Division than any others.

Women are mostly victims of both physical and mental tortures at their in-laws. So they are forced to file divorce letters being unable to bear tortures, Dr Zeenat Huda, Professor, Department of Sociology of Dhaka University, said.

She said women contribute a big role to the economic sector both in the capital city and in remote villages. Women are being empowered and there is no reason why they should bear the torture silently.

Masculine mind set-up has to be removed from the society to stop the divorce rate, Zeenat Huda added.

According to a Bangladesh Bureau of Statics (BBS) report, a total of 4,149 divorce applications were submitted to Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) from January to October 2020.

BBS findings say the most common reasons for divorce from women were their husbands’ extramarital relations, suspicious nature, dowry, drug addiction, impotency and personality clash.

In some cases husband never returns home after going abroad, it said.

On the other hand, most of the common complaints from men are that their wives don’t follow religious lives and disobey their husbands.

Conflict with in-laws, bad temper, indifference towards family and infertility are yet other reasons they mentioned.

BBS findings say extramarital relations, suspicions, dowry are the common allegations from both sides.

A marriage and divorce registrar (Kazi) says the majority allegations from women in city areas are extramarital relations and suspicious nature of their husbands.

However, in villages physical and mental torture of wives for dowry and violation of Islamic rules are major allegations.

Bangladesh Muslim Marriage Registrar Samity Secretary Dr Md. Salim Uddin told The Business Post that high-profile people who were seeking divorce mentioned their lack of understanding.

While low-income spouses mainly mentions family feud, Salim Uddin added.

Both city corporation officials say they receive divorce letters from different sources in the city corporation area including Kazi offices.

Then these letters are sent to local councillor office to help them reach a compromise. City corporation officials wait for three months to withdraw the divorce letter. If they fail to come to a compromise then the divorce comes into effect.

Dr Mehtab Khanam, Honorary Professor, Department of Psychology of Dhaka University, said women were being educated and empowered compared to previous times. So an educated woman cannot tolerate barriers from others.

She said the internet is the second reason for breakup. Besides, most marriages spilt up due to lack of understanding between wife and husband.