Panaji : Law Minister of Goa Nilesh Cabral on Monday 31st May 2021 announced that the state will start pre-marital counselling sessions for couples registering for marriage. He opined that “there was a rise in the number of divorces and annulments of marriage”.
“We should also take responsibility to sit with the couples after the first signature and tell them what their duty towards each other is, what their duties and responsibilities towards their children are, what their duties towards their in-laws are. We have made a small programme,” Cabral said.
According to reports, the Department of Registration will carry out the programme in the 15 days between registration and solemnization of marriages.
Although this programme has not been enacted by the government, the public had mixed feelings about Cabral’s attempt to save marriages.
Undoubtedly the programme for pre-marriage counselling is paved with good intentions, however the matters of love and the sacrosanct bond between a husband and wife is very a complex matter which needs to be dealt with sensitively.
Marriages in Goa are arranged as well as love. In arranged marriages the couple does not know about the character and personality of their spouse; they only come to know about it once they are married. In love marriage however the spouses know their ‘significant other’ hence while counselling both the situations need to be dealt with differently.
Goa News Gub spoke to Adv Harsha Naik on this matter she said “Counselling is workable in case of love marriage but for arranged marriage it might be a challenge as the spouses do not know the in-laws very well in such a case making them understand their duties may be arduous. Moreover the Success of counselling will also depend upon the to be spouces’ emotional intelligence and maturity level”.
Not to forget, ‘divorce’ is riddled with stigma from society. Although it’s not a notion that should be celebrated. Definitely, getting out of a toxic marriage may be good for mental health.
Adv Bernard Fernandes believed the government does not have any business interfering in the lives of individuals, “State should not interfere in the number of divorces and or marriages it’s job is to register the same and not interfere in the personal life of citizens. state is wasting resources in such exercise and are misguided and misinformed” said Adv Fernandes.
Goa is a unique state with uniform civil code, whether this new well-intentioned experiment by Cabral to reduce divorces will be successful in Goa remains a question.
