Television soap operas, with their high melodrama, dramatic close-ups and music, have a huge following in India, particularly among housewives or women who work as domestic help. —File Photo

MUMBAI An Indian woman successfully divorced her husband after he refused to allow her to watch television soap operas, a report said on Tuesday.

The Daily News and Analysis newspaper said the situation led to daily arguments between the couple from Pune, southeast of Mumbai, and she filed for divorce.

Television soap operas, with their high melodrama, dramatic close-ups and music, have a huge following in India, particularly among housewives or women who work as domestic help.

Granting her application, a family court judge said the husband had been picking arguments with his wife for more than four years 'on the ground that she was seeing Hindi serials on TV channels'.

It added 'The respondent (husband) was not allowing the petitioner (wife) to see programmes on TV as per her choice'.

The divorce ruling was given in August, but details had only recently emerged when the ex-husband applied to the high court to overturn the decision, which also gave the woman custody of the couple's six-year-old child.

His lawyers argued in court on Monday that the woman's claims of cruel treatment against her were false and were part of the normal 'wear and tear' of married life, the newspaper said.