Divorce and separation is increasing in Bangladesh

The statistics bureau of Bangladesh recently published a report about the percentage of divorce and separation in Bangladesh. According to their statistics, the percentage has been increased double in five years.

by Swadesh Roy-Aug 8, 2017

( August 8, 2017, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) A female executives of a private bank, is not only a good banker but also a good writer. She is about forty years old and achieved a prestigious position in the society. Her husband is a construction engineer of a government office but comparing with her wife, he gets a poor salary. Besides, apart from his work he has no other qualities. For this reason, only few numbers of government officers and his relatives know him. His life is not that much busy as his wife. Being a senior most executive, she has to conduct many trainings and meetings in the bank. Sometimes she has to leave her station; even her bank organizes their annual general meeting in Bangkok. So as a good banker her lifestyle is gorgeous. On the other hand, as a writer, she has a lot of fans and writer- friends who are also renowned persons in the society.

Primarily, her husband was happy with her lifestyle, but at this midlife stage he is getting envious. They have two children, all grown-up. They were leading a happy life and their mother was giving them all the facilities. Even on the weekend, when they dine in any posh restaurant, their mother always tries to meet their choice. It becomes a happy and exclusive day for them. But now-a-days their father unnecessarily creates such an awful situation in the restaurant which does not go with them. Even, sometimes he pressurizes his wife to give up her writing, because their girl is growing up and she needs more company of her mother. It is another way of showing envious with his wife. Gradually it has become a regular event of their family.

The lady who is a good banker and a good writer can understand these all. She thinks that she has two ways: firstly, she can give up her writing and stay with her husband. Secondly, she has to go for separation. She thinks that, if she gives up her writing and stay with his husband, she may not love him. Rather, she has to live with a man who is not her love. On the other hands, she has to give up one of her loves which has given vast inspiration to her life every moment. Thinking for couple of days, she sends a divorce letter to the city corporation notifying that she will not continue her life with her husband. She has no demand to her husband except let her children stay with her until they become university graduate. She is now a single mother writing more than before and recently she has been promoted in her bank as well. It is one of the case studies of the upper middle class family of Dhaka city.

On the other case, is only seventeen. Her father was bound to give her marriage when she was only fourteen and a half years old. She lives in a remote village at the northern district Rajshahi in Bangladesh. After one and half years of her marriage, she gave birth to a dead child and was attacked by some diseases like shortage of iron in the blood etc. But her mother in law took her to a Fakir (one kind of spiritual man but basically they are cunning people and it is their earning way). The Fakir gave her some holy water and she was suggested to use on her head every morning. Within six months she got sicker. In the meantime, her husband declared that, he would marry again because this wife was unable to give birth. Even she is not compatible enough for his sexual pleasure because of her poor health condition. Her husband married again and within a month he started to torture his first wife brutally like an animal. Within two months, she was forced to leave her husband’s house and return to her widow mother.

The statistics bureau of Bangladesh recently published a report about the percentage of divorce and separation in Bangladesh. According to their statistics, the percentage has been increased double in five years. But, it is very sad that the cause of divorce and separation for personality clash and other factors which occur in the upper middle class or upper class families are less than that of in the poor class families. Even in the poor class families, a huge number of separations are not counted. It has no record. It happens in the poor class families due to ignorance and the marriage of underage girl.

The government of Bangladesh had to compromise with the fundamentalist regarding the age of marriage of the girls. The government firstly wanted to enforce a law that girl will not be eligible for marriage until they are eighteen but ultimately they have to surrender to the fundamentalist. So they have added a clause with the marriage rules that if two parties agree, sixteen years can be the girl’s age of marriage. Unfortunately, in the remote villages sometimes a girl gets married at thirteen to fourteen.

Swadesh Roy, Executive Editor. The Daily Janakantha, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is a highest state award winning journalist; and can be reached at swadeshroy@gmail.com