In 2020, she filed a complaint under article 125 of the CrPC, asking for alimony from her husband. At a Lok Adalat held on June 26 this year, the couple told the Surat Family Court that they wanted to reunite.

During the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns, the man was out of work, and he was calling his ex-wife and chatting with her. Times were tough and he supported her financially. The couple – the man is 34, the woman 30 – and their children, a 9-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy, are living together again.

The Pandesara couple’s case was one of 332 that were brought before the Lok Adalat on June 26. A total of 303 cases – relating to divorce, alimony and child guardianship – have been resolved; a record for a single day, said family court judge RG Devdhara. And in about 30% of resolved cases, separated couples decided to give each other a second chance at being together.

The man has talked to his wife and their children a lot on the phone during the pandemic, and it has helped the reconciliation – as has him apologizing to her.

“We talked to each other often. He learned about our financial problems and helped us by giving us money. He brought cakes for the children’s birthdays and we cut them together,” the woman, who declined to be identified, told The Indian Express.

“Furthermore,” she said, “he started caring about me and apologized for his past behavior. Now we feel attached to each other. In the Lok Adalat, we said to the judge in front of our lawyers that we would like to get together and the court accepted it.

For the woman, there was also a more worldly aspect. “I didn’t have the ability to think too much,” she said. “I am not well educated, and apart from my husband, who will take care of my children?”

Things were different before the couple decided to give their marriage another chance, the woman said. “He didn’t make time for us or my family, and he periodically stopped talking to me. He sometimes beat me when he was angry and scolded the children for little things. I couldn’t take it anymore and we broke up, and I filed a maintenance request against him,” she said.

Her husband acknowledged that he would lose his temper and argue with her when she complained after coming home tired from work. “I never tried to figure it out,” he said.

“But during the Covid lockdown, as there was no work, I missed her and my children, and I felt guilty. I hesitated before starting to speak again, but it became easy after realizing that she felt the same way. We both realized our mistakes and assured the court that we wanted to stay together. I also promised not to beat her or argue with her. That’s my family and my world; I realized that everything I earn is for them, and it is in their happiness that my happiness lies.

“Our court deals with family dispute cases and we have held three Lok Adalats since March, during which 146, 246 and 303 cases were decided,” said family court judge Devdhara. “Of the cases settled on June 26, we believe that more than 30% were those of the reunion of separated couples. The rest concerned cases of separation by mutual consent and the recovery of maintenance,” the judge said.

Another case concerns a couple from Katargam in Surat, who got married in 2015. The man, 32, works in the gardening department of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC), and the couple have a five-year-old child .

Their problems started with the pressures of living in a joint family, the woman said. “Our house only has one room and a kitchen, and his parents and younger sister also stay with us. There was no privacy and I was treated like a domestic helper with no respect. Everything my husband brought home was taken away by my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law. We slept in the kitchen and the rest of the family in the bedroom. My husband would be influenced by them and I could not bear the mental and physical torture,” she told The Indian Express.

The couple separated in 2018 and the wife filed a lawsuit against her husband in 2019.

For this couple too, the Covid has changed things.

“During the pandemic, I visited him regularly. When my wife and son got sick, I took medicine for them. I helped my in-laws a lot and they allowed me access to their house to meet my wife and son,” the man said.

After spending long hours together, this couple also realized they wanted to live together again. They made this submission to the court, with the condition that they would live separately from the man’s parents.

“I booked a 1 BHK apartment for my wife. I assured the court that I will always keep her happy and that we will move to another house,” he said.

Lawyer Preeti Joshi told The Indian Express that the curse of Covid has turned out to be a blessing for several estranged couples the crisis has brought together.

“During Covid, when people stayed at home, often out of work, they missed their partners and separated children. This pushed them towards a compromise. We have dealt with such cases (of marital discord), and it is for the first time that we have seen such a large increase in the number of reunion cases, which is good for society as a whole,” said she declared.

Joshi also cited the case of a couple from Surat who got married in 1997 and separated in 2014. Even if they are separated, it is his duty to help them in an extraordinary situation like the pandemic , and she should not face financial problems. Their divorce case is pending in court,” she said.