Compiled by SHYAFIQ DZULKIFLI, ALLISON LAI AND R.ARAVINTAN
A COURT in India has ruled that married women are not obliged to care for their in-laws or seek permission before visiting their own parents, Makkal Osai reported.
During a divorce hearing in Bengaluru, the family court ordered the husband to pay 9,000 rupees (RM380) a month in alimony and child support to his wife and child.
The man appealed the decision to the Bengaluru High Court.
His lawyer reportedly argued that the amount was unfair because the wife had not properly cared for her parents-in-law, failed to do household chores adequately and visited her parents frequently without her husband’s approval.
Justice Dr Chillakur Sumalatha rejected the arguments, saying a woman cannot be expected to do nothing but housework.
She also said sons and daughters, rather than their spouses, have the primary responsibility for caring for their parents. An Indian woman, she added, cannot be expected to seek permission from everyone in her husband’s family before visiting her own parents.
A marriage does not give one person the right to control their partner, she added.
She also ruled that a husband cannot force his wife to follow his every wish.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
