A man in India divorced his wife for cooking him instant noodles three times a day. ML Raghunath, a principal district- and sessions-court judge, shared the case at a press conference, dubbing it the "Maggi case" in reference to a popular brand of instant noodles.
The judge said he granted the divorce. India has low divorce rates, but a judge and a professor said it is now rising, The Independent reports.
The Maggi Case
Raghunath shared that he was a district attorney in Ballari when he attended what he called the "Maggi case." The judge did not provide the couple's names or the case's date.
According to the judge, the man said that throughout their marriage, his wife would only buy packets of Maggi instant noodles and serve them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The husband said that the wife did not know how to prepare any food other than Maggi noodles. It was noodles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, he added. When his wife goes to the provision store, she would only buy instant noodles.
Eventually, the couple divorced with mutual consent, Raghunath disclosed. Under the Special Marriage Act of 1954, divorce by mutual consent requires both parties to live separately for one year. After which, the couple would agree to dissolve the marriage.
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The divorce rate in India
A study in 2018 revealed that India's divorce rate is 11 percent. The U.S., in the same study, recorded 50 percent.
Raghunath noted that the divorce rate has been increasing in the past years. The judge said in a press conference that couples have to stay together for at least a year before seeking a divorce in India. He also noted that more couples in urban areas seek divorce than in rural villages.
In rural areas, women have no independence, and they usually fear the pressures of society and the family, forcing them to cope with the situation despite their interest in getting into a divorce. In contrast, women in the cities are more educated and financially independent, giving them more freedom and capacity to get through divorce, according to Yahoo!Life.
Shubhada Maitra, a professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, thinks that high expectations from women are one of the reasons why couples divorce. Men still expect their wives to fulfill traditional roles.
Netizens react
A Twitter user reacted to the story, saying that the husband should have checked before marriage, which was his mistake. The user added that divorce should not be possible, NDTV reports.
Others added that the judge may have failed to ask the husband why he did not try cooking instead, wondering if cooking should only be assigned to the woman in the family.
A user also commented that he feels like they are living in the 1890s, wondering why the judge did not ask the husband if he knows how to cook. Cooking, the user-added, is not only a woman's work. If the husband knows how to cook, he should also teach the wife.
