New Delhi: A marriage solemnised in India cannot be automatically dissolved or stand null and void by a divorce order passed by a foreign court, the Supreme Court has reiterated, saying such judgments must satisfy requirements of Indian law to be legally recognised in the country.
The top court specifically held that a foreign divorce granted solely on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage cannot be treated as valid in India when the marriage was solemnised under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar made the observation while dismissing one N Sridhar Reddy’s petition seeking quashing of criminal proceedings against him for bigamy and criminal conspiracy.
According to the Supreme Court, a foreign divorce decree must meet the conditions prescribed under Section 13 of Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) to be recognised by Indian courts.
“In our view, the foreign divorce decree was passed in contravention of the existing matrimonial law in India and on a ground that is not even recognised statutorily,” the court said.
The bench further stated that the decree violated legal requirements under Section 13 of the CPC.
Reddy had said in his plea that he could not be prosecuted as he was not an Indian citizen and the Cambridge County Court had granted him divorce from his first wife, N Geetha Prasanthi.
Only matrimonial courts in India had the jurisdiction to deal with the dispute as Reddy’s first marriage was solemnised in India, hence divorce decree passed by the Cambridge County Court was invalid.
Reddy had initially approached the a court in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, to seek dissolution of his first marriage.
“Having failed to obtain the required relief, he preferred an appeal before the high court, but chose to withdraw it later,” said Justice Mishra.
“Instead of contesting his appeal here in India, accused No.1/husband chose to file for divorce proceedings before a foreign court after allegedly obtaining the citizenship of the United Kingdom in the interregnum,” Justice Mishra added.
The UK court finalised the divorce on January 29, 2014, on the ground of “irretrievable breakdown of marriage”, a ground not statutorily recognised under the Hindu laws under which Reddy and his first wife were married, India’s top court said.
“Such a decree cannot automatically be accorded recognition in India. In our view, the foreign divorce decree was passed in contravention of the existing matrimonial law in India and on a ground that is not even recognised statutorily,” Supreme Court ruled.
