Chinese Court of Shandong and its controversial ruling on divorce! A social media storm ensues on Weibo!

If we look at the happenings in the world, we realize that society per se seems to be not doing well. It is ailing and things are only going towards the worse. Coronavirus pandemic has proven it. And now, a Court in China has stated that a couple cannot be given divorce based on just an infidelity. Does that mean that people can legally cheat in marriage? Is the Chinese Court promoting open marriages?

Chinese Court and its absurd verdict

Chinese Global Times has reported that a court in China from its Shandong province has made a controversial declaration. It said that mere cheating in a relationship cannot be considered a reason for divorce!!! The declaration states:

“cheating is not an act of cohabitation because cohabitation refers to a married person living with someone without marriage relations continuously and stably.”

Chinese Court
Shandong Province of China (Source: Britannica)

Does the court imply that one-night stands are okay in a relationship??? So adultery is not a reason for divorce, as per this court.

Social media storm follows this ruling

Of course, such a controversial ruling cannot go unnoticed by socially conscious individuals of the society. People on social media reacted enormously to this absurdity. In China, the hashtag ‘”No application for divorce because of cheating” started trending on social media platform Weibo. People were shocked and baffled.

Chinese Court
Chinese Court rules that cheating is not a reason for applying for divorce (Source: News 18)

It looks like the specific court of Shandong considers intermittent cheating in marriage as allowed. It does not want couples to proceed with divorce on such a ground. They want people to continue with their lives as a couple despite being unhappy in a marital relationship. The Court wants to overlook the most important reason for divorce and put it into the trivial category. It is trying to make humans robotic?

Last year’s controversial divorce cooling off-period ruling

This is not the first time that Chinese court has created a furore. Last year, China passed a divorce law that stated that couples applying for divorce will need to have a cooling off period of 1 month before they again apply formally for the divorce. This was not welcomed since couples feared that if the second party withdrew from the divorce within this 30 days, then they will have to apply afresh. This will only make the process lengthy and hard for the aggrieved couple. The legal cost would also rise.

Chinese Court
Cooling off period in divorce not welcomed (Source: SCMP)

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A trending hashtag of “oppose divorce cooling-off period” on social media Weibo followed this weird ruling as well. People felt that the government was unnecessarily interfering in their personal matters. Reports reveal that the divorce rate in China was 0.96 divorces per 1000 people in 2000 and it was 3.36 per 1000 people in 2019. 4.15 million applications for divorce was filed in 2019. Hence they took some action but these are absurd actions. They are trying to play with people’s emotions. Their acts might boomerang and they should realize that these ineffective laws will fetch no benefits but only miseries for couples.