Slipper-waving mum derails marriage counseling session

Aligarh: Marriage counseling sessions are often noisy, chaotic and cantankerous. But one such session on Saturday went a step forward when a mother of a woman took umbrage to being asked to stop interfering in the discussion taking place between the squabbling couple. Not only was the mother displeased, she also picked up one of her slippers and threatened violence.
Sakshi and Abhishek Saxena had gone to the Aligarh senior superintendent’s (SSP) office in their bid to resolve the irreconcilable differences that had cropped up in their six-month-old marriage. Sakshi was flanked by her mother Mamata and grandmother Shashi. Mamata started interfering soon after the meeting started. When the Paramarsh Kendra in-charge Poonam Jadon tried to prevent her from speaking, Mamata took off a slipper and threatened to beat her. This is when Jadon decided to settle the commotion. What followed next was a barrage of expletives mouthed by Sakshi’s mother and grandmother. But Jadon managed to push them into a police van, which took them to the mahila thana.
The mother-grandmother duo has been booked by the police under the relevant section of the IPC.
Poonam Jadon, who finds herself in the eye of storm, said she had witnessed noisy, cantankerous sessions before but not one of such nature. “The scheme has been in place for years, but this kind of thing has never occurred before. My only point was that no third party should influence the conversation of a couple trying to reach a compromise. What is the point of coming here if you want to take matters into your own hands? We have experts who conduct counseling sessions.”
When asked to recount the incident, Jadon said, “The woman’s mother was constantly trying to influence the session. It becomes difficult to have a conversation then. When I told her not to interfere, she became aggressive and threatened me with a slipper. Then I also reacted and forcefully packed her inside the police van.”
Abhishek Saxena, the husband, said he was disappointed with the way events unraveled. “I had decided to attend the counseling session as my wife and I want to reach a compromise. But my mother-in-law misbehaved and unfortunately, I’ll have to wait to get an opportunity to attend another counseling session.”
The counselors - Seema Siddiqui and Maria Umar - were shocked by the violence. “As counselors, we are vulnerable to such attacks and Jadon’s reaction was important to curb further such events,” Siddiqui said.
Udit Narayan Singh, press officer of the SSP, said, “The matter will be investigated. Both the parties will be probed in this case.”