A unique legal case has been reported from China where a man has sued his ex-wife demanding the reimbursement of $26,000 'bride price'. The man moved court after the woman filed for divorce merely two months after their marriage following an abortion, a pattern that South China Morning Post (SCMP) said she repeated with six other men.
The outlet identified the woman by the pseudonym Shuang. It said tat she crossed paths with the man named Xiaoya during a blind date arranged by a matchmaker in March. They got married just two months later, but the relationship took an unexpected turn in July when Shuang, who is from central China's Henan province, discovered she was pregnant.
The woman then decided to go for abortion, claiming that the doctor found a fetal anomaly. Shuang filed for divorce after the abortion.
Xiaoya agreed to the divorce but filed a case in local court seeking the return of the gift he gave to her at the time of marriage, locally known as 'bride price'. It is a wedding custom in which the man gives money to his future wife's family as a condition of engagement.
The man's case was dismissed by two lower courts but during an appeal filed before a higher court, Xiaoya revealed that Shuang had been married to six men and used a similar modus operandi - claiming that she is pregnant and then going to abortion and quickly filing for divorce.
He claimed she used marriage as a way to make money.
Xiaoya even produced a man, who told the court that Shuang married his son and divorced him within months but never returned the gift she received.
The high court then ordered Shuang to return $14,000 to Xiaoya, ruling that she showed no intention to start a life with him. The judge did not ask the woman to pay back all the money saying she did go through a pregnancy and abortion.
