 |
An
Indian urinates on a wall in front of a poster in Hyderabad for the Hindi film
"Toilet", about one man's battle to build toilets in his village
|
An Indian court has given
a woman permission to divorce her husband because their home did not have a
toilet, forcing her to seek relief outdoors.
AFP
report continues:
The
family court in the northwestern state of Rajasthan ruled on Friday in favour
of the woman, who argued that her husband's failure to provide an indoor toilet
during their five years of marriage amounted to cruelty.
Justice
Rajendra Kumar Sharma said women in villages often endured physical pain
waiting until darkness to relieve themselves outdoors.
The
judge labelled open defecation -- a major health problem in India --
disgraceful and deemed it torture to deny women a safe environment for relief,
the woman's lawyer Rajesh Sharma told AFP.
Divorce
is only granted in India if proof such as cruelty, violence or undue financial
demands are shown in court.
It
is not the first time a marriage has been called off over a toilet.
Last
year a woman refused to tie the knot in Uttar Pradesh state after her fiancé
refused to build a toilet for the couple.
In
June another woman refused to return to the home of her in-laws until they
constructed a toilet.
Nearly
half of India's population -- almost 600 million people -- defecate in the
open, according to UNICEF.
Some
70 percent of Indian households do not have toilets, although 90 percent have
access to mobile phones.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has promised to build a toilet in every home by 2019 in
a bid to stamp out open defecation.
The
government says 20 million toilets have been constructed since the start of the
scheme in 2014.
But experts say open defecation not only stems from poverty but a belief that toilets inside the home are unclean.
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