Indian brides told to focus on marriage, not cellphones

Photo / Thinkstock

A north Indian province has issued an advisory to young brides to avoid talking too much on their mobile phones for the first two years of marriage, as it could provoke jealousy from their husbands and lead to divorce.

The Punjab State Commission for Women last week advised Punjabi brides "to focus on their domestic life instead of having long conversations on mobile phones", as this could be misconstrued by their husbands and in-laws that she was conversing with another man.

Commission head Gurdev Kaur Sangha, who issued the advisory, said it was designed to avoid suspicion between newly-wed couples.

"Almost 90 per cent of newly married men and women [in Punjab] want a divorce because the boy or his family is sure that the girl is talking to another man when, in reality, in a majority of the cases, she is actually taking frequent advice from her own parents [on ways to manage her marriage]," Sangha said in the state capital Chandigarh, 250km north of New Delhi.

"I squarely blame the mobile phone for many marriage break-ups," she said.

According to social activists, conservative Punjab had seen a 150 per cent increase in the divorce rate which was not alarmingly high in numbers but still worrisome to many households.

The advent of cable television, mobile phones and a spurt in provocative advertising aimed at young females, and women's magazines dealing with sexual and matrimonial problems, had empowered Indian women, leading to the spike in divorces.

Sangha said she had recorded a rise in complaints from women regarding domestic violence, sexual harassment and family discord because of arguments over brides being on the phone constantly.