Till networking' do us part

GUWAHATI: Relationships are now made in cyber world and marriages are broken on earth. When the real gets boring and spouses find social networking sites more exciting, cracks begin to show in marriages. Yes, Internet infidelity is now real and costing couples frequent trips to divorce lawyers.
In the past two months, 10 city couples sought separation alleging their spouses were cheating on them.As proof, they produced messages and pictures communicated by the cheating partner through social networking sites. Lawyers pointed out that the straying spouse in some cases continues with the relationship even after marriage through social networking sites, while others start affairs using these sites after marriage. Most of these couples are from well-off families, they said.
An advocate from a family court narrated a case, "The director of an educational institute in Guwahati alleged that his wife had made some friends through networking sites. He came to know about her relationship with a defense person after two years of marriage.
His wife, a research assistant in a city based institute, kept alive her affairs through the networking sites." He said the couple got separated last December. The wife got the custody of their one-year-old child.
Another family court advocate said a case of divorce was filed by a musician husband whose wife was having an affair with a person she had befriended through a networking site. The husband filed a divorce case in the family court recently, seeking separation. The wife works in a private company.
Family court advocates blamed such sites for triggering marital conflicts leading to termination of marriages in extreme cases. "Social networking sites are causing serious problems between couples. They have emerged as principal tools of separation as was evident in a number of recent cases," said Nilotpal Deka, a family court advocate. Till Thursday, 95 cases were registered in the family court Guwahati.
Sources said more than 50 per cent of the 95 cases were related to "separation" on grounds of Internet infidelity!