A forty seven year old man sued his wife for “mistreatment of the family” due to her “poor management of the household chores”. The couple is from Sonnino in the Lazio region of Italy. The age of the accused woman is forty, and according to her husband, this kind of negligence has being going on for two years already.
The man claims that his wife is so negligent about the housework, that even when he buys food for the house, it ends up in the trash without getting cooked. According to the husband, he has been kicked out of their shared bedroom as well.
The submitted court papers state that he feels “insulted” by his wife’s negligence towards cleaning of the house, and has been forced to “live in conditions with poor hygiene”. While her trial is set to be conducted on October 12, the woman might end up for six years behind the bars on charges of “mistreatment of the family’ and ‘poor management of the household chores’, especially cooking and cleaning.
Wife or husband: Who is the ultimate sufferer?
While a lot of details as well as everyone’s perspective in this case is unclear, the judgement this case is leading to is a quite unprecedented one. Even if everything the husband claims in this case proves to be true, there should still be a few things to consider. Many civil cases that do not involve violence result in an out of court settlement or a penalty towards the guilty party. Going by the claims made by the husband, none of his wife’s actions and decisions suggest of any loss of property or risk to anyone’s health. He cites ‘lack of hygiene’ as one of his grievances, though not torture by any means. So is it correct to jail the woman solely for negligence towards work?
Secondly, while a working man and a housewife might decide on specific duties for each other, should negligence of one’s duty lead to punishment by court? Can a marriage counselor help? Or could there be another way out?
Let us know if you have an answer.
