The TV show, whose plotline revolves around a wife who finds out about her cheating husband through their son, inspires 4-year-old to tell mother about his father also having an affair with another woman
Pratibha is watching a TV show which revolves around a husband who cheats on his wife, when her son Soham tells her how his father is having an affair with a woman, just like the show’s lead
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Pune: Here’s a case of the reel inspiring events that are all too real. A popular Marathi TV show, whose plotline revolves around a wife who finds out about her cheating husband through their son, inspired a four-year-old to tell his mother about how his father was also having an affair with another woman.
Pratibha confronts her husband Raju about the allegation and he flatly denies it. Just then, their daughter Pradnya walks in and tells Pratibha how she had seen Raju with a woman on the bus
The case is being handled by the Pune police’s women’s grievance redressal cell. The man at the centre of this drama is Raj Patil, who works with the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML). He married Pratibha in 2008 and the couple have two children, Pradnya (7) and Soham (4). It was Soham who told his mother about his father’s antics. Twenty-nine-year-old Pratibha recalls, “My husband earns Rs 15,000 per month and initially, he would always give me money for groceries. But for the last six to eight months, he was not giving me money to the point where I had to ask my parents and brothers for money.”
The couple approaches Pune police’s women’s grievance cell to seek counselling for their marriage. The cops also speak to the woman Raju is allegedly having an affair with
Came home twice
“Initially, I thought my husband was getting a lower salary. But during Navratri, my children and I were watching a daily soap where the couple’s son tells his grandparents about his father cheating on his mom with a colleague. On seeing that, my son told me how his father had also come home with another woman twice when I was out to drop my daughter to school. I was shocked. When I asked my husband about it, he denied it. Just then, our daughter walked in and mentioned how she too had seen him with the woman on a bus,” said Pratibha.
Pratibha and Raju are still undergoing counselling when Raju decides to file for divorce in the family court. He labels Pratibha a ‘nag’. Illustration/Uday Mohite
“We have been undergoing counselling with police and even his colleague approached the police with a few lewd text messages from my husband. He denied those too and has now approached the family court.”
Hoping to settle it...
Seema Mendhale, in-charge of the cell said, “This was a unique case. We were hoping to mutually settle it, but the husband had approached family court for divorce. We also probed Raj’s cell phone and found a few lewd texts, especially between Raj and his colleague who is a widow. But the woman claims it’s a casual conversation.”
Counsellor Anuja Joshi said, “The daily soaps are also impacting children who watch them.”
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