A 20-year-old woman, who left her husband about a year-and-half ago, has refused to return till a toilet is constructed at her in-laws place.
The woman, Seema Patel turned down her husband Mohan Patel (23) repeated requests to return home recently following which he approached a family counselling centre at Shahpur in the district to resolve the issue.
The counselling centre member, Rajani Gaikwad took the matter seriously and after going through all aspects, justified the demand of Seema and directed Mohan to build a toilet in the house within a month.
After her marriage in 2012 with Mohan of Shahpur block, Seema spent a long time at her in-law's place and continued to press them for providing a toilet in the house, Gaikwad said today.
When her pleas fell in deaf ears, she went back to her parent's place in Piparia town and remained there since last 19 months.
Meanwhile, Mohan tried to convince her to come back to his place but she did not budge following which he approached us to save his married life, Gaikwad said.
Last Thursday, members of both the families were summoned and after deliberations on the issue the counselling centre found her demand genuine and directed Mohan to construct a toilet in the house within a month.
Superintendent of Police Rakesh Kumar Jain said that Police is also participating in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swachhata abhiyan and welcomed the directive of the family counselling centre in this regard as it will save a separation.
Betul district's Anita Narre, a tribal woman of Chichouli village also left her house in 2011 on the issue of not constructing a toilet in her house following which NGO Sulabh International's Chairman Bindeshwari Pathak gave her Rs 5 lakh award in recognition of her bold decision which raised awareness among people on the issue.
Narre was also honoured by former President Pratibha Patil in 2011 for her courageous decision.
