CHENNAI: A 44-year-old man on Tuesday stabbed his estranged wife in a family court on the Madras high court campus, allegedly frustrated over the divorce proceedings dragging for more than a decade. Saravanan, an MTC bus driver who attacked Varalakshmi in the open court room around noon, was nabbed by a few lawyers and handed over to police. A court later sent him to jail. The woman is recovering at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.Police said the separated couple had been fighting a divorce case for the past 10 years in the family court and Saravanan was battling a dowry harassment case filed by Varalakshmi at a magistrate court in Tambaram.At 11.50am, a police officer said, Saravanan and Varalakshmi were seated in the First Additional Family Court where Judge Ilangovan was hearing another case when the attack occurred. A lawyer in the courtroom said, "I saw the man walking towards where his wife sat. All of a sudden, he opened a goggle box, took out a sharp-edged knife and struck Varalakshmi. She responded quickly and spun away but suffered an injury below the neck."Senior counsel V Kannadasan , who was with a client, said: "Some lawyers caught hold of him before he could attack the woman again. They bashed him up and informed police."A team of the Security Chennai Police, present at the entrance, rushed in and took the suspect into their custody, while others alerted the ‘108’ ambulance. Varalakshmi was sent to GH.The incident is seen as a serious breach as it occurred in the ‘high security zone’. The family court hall where the incident occurred is secured by the state police and litigants are allowed in only through Esplanade gate after obtaining a valid pass. All visitors to the court are manually frisked and it is not known how the man managed to carry a knife in.A police officer said Saravanan of Siruvanjur near Sriperumbudur in 2009 applied for divorce from Varalakshmi and they separated. The court ordered Saravanan to remit 1.65 lakh as maintenance to Varalakshmi and he filed a petition against it. The petition came up for hearing on Tuesday.The High Court police registered a case under IPC Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 294 (B) (abusing), 506 (II) (criminal intimidation) and 228 (whoever intentionally offers any insult or causes any interruption to any public servant) against Saravanan.Family court lawyer and Congress worker T K R Sudha said, “The number of divorce cases had been steadily increasing in the family court. There are eight family courts but posts of three judges are vacant. It is difficult to dispose of cases quickly.”

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