A man allegedly gave ''triple talaq'' to his wife inside the civil court premises in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow in the presence of her advocate after she refused to accept a chewing gum from him, police said on Tuesday.
30-year-old Simmi of Amrai village was divorced by her husband Syed Rashid on Monday inside the Lucknow civil court premises where she had gone for the hearing of her case of dowry harassment she had lodged earlier against her in-laws, said the Indira Nagar police station SHO SB Pandey.
The woman was talking to her advocate when her husband offered her a chewing gum which she refused, said the SHO, citing the woman's compliant.
This threw Rashid in a fit of rage and he divorced his wife, uttering talaq three times, said the SHO.
Simmi, married to Rashid in 2004, had lodged a case of dowry harassment against her husband and in-laws earlier, said SHO Pandey.
There have been several instances of men divorcing their wives with the outlawed oral diktat on seemingly odd pretexts.
Last year, a man working in the UAE had pronounced triple talaq to his wife in Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur through a text message, while a day later two more cases of the divorce through of triple talaq for bizarre reasons were reported from the state.
In one case the man had allegedly divorced his wife to escape from the responsibility of providing treatment to their physically challenged daughter.
In the second case the victim had alleged her husband had ended their two-year-old marriage by pronouncing ''triple talaq'' on phone due to her dark complexion.
SHO Pandey said a case has been registered against Rashid under various sections of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 and is being investigated.
In another case, a man allegedly divorced his wife on Monday in full public view in her village market in Unnao district using the outlawed custom and mocking at the new law that declares the oral diktat a penal offence.