RELATABLE: Can the third person in marriage be charged for interference? 

KUALA LUMPUR - The Cinderalla dream wedding, the excitement, the exchanging of vows, and living happily ever after is a dream many hold as they tie the knot, promising for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do them part.

But after the initial few years of marriage, sex and love is out of the window and the partner has a third person to fill in the gap.

What can you do?

For Muslim couples, there is a specific provision under the Shariah Criminal Offence in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur that could charge the third person for interfering, family lawyer Ainie Haziqah said.

She said provision under Section 32, 33 and 34 of the Shariah Criminal Offences Enactment 1995 allows a spouse to file a lawsuit against the homewrecker.

The offences include inciting and influencing the partner to leave the marriage.

“The act specifically states if the third person is found inciting or influencing the partner to leave the marriage, or asking to neglect responsibilities as a husband, as a father or as a wife in the marriage, it is a crime under the Shariah Criminal Offence,” she said during Sinar Daily Relatable show, today.

The talk show titled ‘Marriage, Interrupted: The Third Person’ was held at Me.reka Publika, here with family and couples therapist Bawany Chinapan and entrepreneur Muizz Nasruddin as the panellists.

Ainie added the involvement of a third person or a third party in a marriage can be considered abuse since it involves the victim’s emotions, leading to psychological torture as it is stated in the Domestic Violence Act as abuse but she said it can be tricky sometimes as "how do you prove it?"

Victim needs to prove that the affair has impacted him or her job and life, she added.

In 2016, Women Family and Community Development deputy minister Datuk Azizah Mohd said that based on a study, the first five years of marriage are usually the most challenging.