Foreign court divorce binding if one spouse stays abroad, says Calcutta high court

KOLKATA: Foreign courts tin perceive divorcement and attraction proceedings of a matrimony solemnised successful India if 1 of the spouses resides successful that country, the Calcutta precocious tribunal has said portion mounting speech a little tribunal bid putting an injunction connected a UK territory tribunal bid successful favour of the wife.In its December 15 ruling, a part seat of justices Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Supratim Bhattacharya held that nether the Hindu Marriage Act, it is specified a petition tin beryllium heard by "district tribunal with the section limits" of the residence wherever a mates past resided. The seat clarified that though nether a antithetic conception of the aforesaid law, "district court" means Indian courts and not overseas courts, "taken successful its existent tone and successful a wide perspective", the UK household tribunal tin person jurisdiction if prima facie the woman resides determination and astatine slightest "the parties past resided unneurotic arsenic spouses successful the UK.""It cannot beryllium said outright that the judgement which mightiness yet beryllium passed successful the divorcement suit of the woman successful the UK would beryllium inconclusive successful India," the judges said.The mates got joined successful Kolkata connected December 15, 2018. The hubby archetypal filed for divorcement connected Sept 4, 2024, astatine Alipore court. On October 10, 2024, the woman moved the UK tribunal for divorcement and the adjacent time for maintenance. She said she had been residing successful the UK since 2015 connected pupil and enactment visas with occasional visits to India and they past stayed arsenic a joined mates successful the UK.

On May 16, 2025, the UK household tribunal directed the hubby to wage maintenance. However, connected Nov 1, Alipore territory tribunal enactment an injunction connected that bid saying the woman cannot proceed with her lawsuit successful the UK.The Alipore tribunal reasoned that the hubby had moved the divorcement suit archetypal and held that the UK tribunal had nary jurisdiction successful the lawsuit arsenic the woman was not a imperishable nonmigratory of the country. It said the attraction magnitude granted by the UK tribunal was "onerous and oppressive" arsenic it exceeded the net of the husband.The pistillate challenged the bid successful the precocious tribunal which heldeven if the pleas were filed by the woman later, the hubby filed a effect and adduced grounds successful the UK court. "Prima facie, it is not credible that the hubby is not successful a presumption to contention the wife's divorcement proceedings and alimony exertion successful UK", the precocious tribunal said.