Husbands addicted to online games; women seek divorce in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Two women have approached the police seeking divorce as their husbands were severely addicted to online gambling, imperiling their marital lives. The women, in two separate cases, had approached the women’s helpline of Bengaluru city police.

One of the complainant’s husband has confessed that he had pledged his property and took loans to play poker. A total of Rs 32 lakh was lost through the games, they said. The second complainant’s husband had stolen money from the bank, where he was employed and ended up losing Rs 35 lakh, stated the complaint.

The wife of an IT worker from Hebbal, Bangalore, was one of those who had approached the police seeking divorce. She had gone to the family counselling centre of Vanitha Sahayavani, which comes under the Bengaluru police. The couple got married three years ago. Her husband took part in online gaming and lost all his money. Later, he took a high-interest loan of Rs 32 lakh. However, soon he lost the loan money as well. This led to problems in their marriage, following which the woman decided to divorce him. “He began online gambling for fun but soon got addicted. He lost a huge amount in 2020 and in a bid to reclaim the lost money, he pledged a plot of land he owned and also took loans from many people at high interest rates”, said the woman.

Another woman, a resident of Austin Town, has also approached the authorities seeking divorce citing similar reasons. The woman, who is a former IT professional, had approached the government’s family counselling centre Parihar, with a grievance about her husband’s online gambling addiction. “My husband was a cashier with a top private bank. He started playing online rummy during the lockdown. He began stealing money from his bank but was caught recently and was fired. It was when lost his job that I came to realize that he was addicted,” said the woman. In Bengaluru, numerous youths are addicted to online gambling, said the police. For this reason, the family lives of many are in turmoil. We are receiving several complaints on similar grounds, said the police.