And suddenly a divorce!

Investigation

Anjana never expected a sudden divorce notice from her husband. It was an emotional shock for her. Anjana has been married to Kumar, a defence officer from the Coast Guard, 11 years ago. They also have a girl child aged 11, studying in Kendriya Vidyalaya. Kumar was also serving in the services as an officer with a gazetted rank. To anyone outside the defense compound Anjan’s family life was a comfortable, respectable and financially sound, enjoying all the privileges of any high ranking officers could enjoy in the services.

On one fine day Anjana and her child were thrown out of the defense community in which they were living, when Kumar was transferred to another station. Kumar did not take his family with him to the new station, saying that there was no Kendriya Vidyalaya where his child was studying. Instead his superior officers suggested Kumar to dump his family where the Kendriya Vidyalaya facility was available. It has hurt Anjana’s status as a decently married Indian woman, and a mother.

The reason for Kumar’s divorce was not solid enough to satisfy his spouse. The notice simply informed Anjana that her husband is in need of a divorce from her, so that he can lead a meaningful life in future. The undertone of his explanation for divorce clearly indicated that he has an illegal relationship with another lady from the defense circles.

Kumar had a habit of recording his family conversations and private videos of his wife in his smartphone and sending them to his mother, sister and his friends. Anjana told about this habit of her husband to her parents only after she got the divorce notice. Kumar has been doing this since the very first year of his marriage to Anjana. On several occasions Kumar resorted to domestic violence, financial harassment and emotional torturing to Anjana and their child. Twice Anjana’s parents met Kumar’s higher officials to sort the domestic problems Kumar had with Anjana. They superior officers promised nothing of the sorts will ever happen again from Kumar.

But the ‘patch-ups’ between Anjana and Kumar with the help of Kumar’s superior officers, were only temporary. Life, for Anjana began to take its toll on her health too. Just before she was dumped in a place very far away from Kumar’s duty station, Anja underwent a medical examination in the Naval hospital, and the doctors diagnosed Anjana was suffering from emotional trauma.

How can a woman legally married to a ‘gentleman-officer’ of the defense force for 10 long years can be humiliated, tortured and financially harassed even after filing a divorce petition by her husband? Who is responsible for the officer’s rude behavior on his wife and the child? Is it because Anjana found out his adultery with another woman from the defense services?

Anjana has filed a Domestic Violence case against Kumar only after she was served a divorce petition by him. Anjana has solid proof about his superiors advising him to forget about his family and mind his business. The superiors even advised him to dump his family in a rented shack and focus on his duty. Is this the way a gentleman-officer from a defense force conduct the dignity and identity of his wife without any solid proof of she committing any adultery or cheating or resorting to a lifestyle that is beyond the income of the officer?

How, then, an ordinary Indian citizen can trust one officer from the defense forces, leave alone any woman who is about to get into a married life with one such officer as Kumar?

"Newsbreak" learned about this issue through original sources and proofs. The original names of the individuals and the official rank of the defense officer mentioned in this story is protected to safeguard their privacy. The identity of the defense service in which the officer is working now, is also protected.