Cigarette Smoking, a Cause of Families Break

Published on December 11, 2008 8:32 AM

In India the two-year-old marriage of a young woman can be affected by smoking addiction. But in our days she can save her marriage only if she will sign a testimony that binds her to divorce without alimony if she takes a puff again. If the wife smoked her husband, a non-smoker, can bring his wife back from her parental home on the condition that she will not smoke again.

The woman, hailing from Amravati near Nagpur, became addicted to online tobacco in college and continue to smoke in secret in her husband's home, but was caught red-handed by her in-laws after some time, a report said. The smell of cigarette smoke emanating from different corners of the house regularly after their son's marriage disturbed and surprised his parents as no one else in the household smoked.

Burnt cigarette stubs strewn outside the windows confirmed their suspicion that someone was smoking. Once caught in the act, the woman told her in-laws she had tried hard to give up smoking several times but the desire always got the better of her will power.

When a stern warning by husband and in-laws to desist from smoking failed to work, they informed her parents who extracted a vow from her that she would not touch cigarettes in future. But the woman continued to smoke after a gap, resulting in her husband leaving her at her parental home six months ago.

Yielding to her requisites and believing her words that a proper de-addiction treatment has rid her of the habit, hopefully for good, the husband brought her back to Nagpur but only after securing an affidavit of a divorce pledge and depositing its copy in a police station in Amravati. And the woman has pledged to accept divorce without seeking alimony should she start smoking again. This is a real story and a new smoking legislation in India that was approved in September.