City court annuls divorce decree passed in Dubai

A Chandigarh court has declared a divorce decree passed by a Dubai court under Sharia law null and void.

The court here said that marriages solemnised in India under Indian laws could not be dissolve by foreign courts in a manner contrary to Indian matrimonial statutes. In the present case the divorce decree violates Indian public policy because it undermines the sanctity of marriage, which is protective under Indian law.

The husband in a suit filed through advocate Pradhuman Garg, prayed for declaring the judgment passed by a family court of Dubai null as it was against the principles of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. He said Sharia law was not applicable on them as their marriage was performed in India under the Hindu Marriage Act and both were Hindu.

He also said that granting the permanent alimony to the minor child under the divorce petition was also against the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956. The husband said that he was permanent resident of Chandigarh and he and his wife were Indians having NRI status.

He said that he moved to Dubai in 2015, whereas his wife had been a resident of Dubai since she was four-year-old. He met her in 2016 and got married in August 2017. A Hindu marriage was solemnised in Dubai as well as in Mumbai in 2017 and duly registered in Mumbai.

He said that soon after the marriage, his wife and her parents were regularly creating disturbances in their matrimonial affairs. His mother was also kept isolated from his family. Before marriage it had been decided that all expenses would be shared by his mother, who would live with them as his father had passed away. He alleged that after marriage, his wife reneged on these promises and asked him to pay for everything. In September 2022, her wife filed for divorce in a Dubai court.

After hearing the arguments, Parmod Kumar, Civil Judge, Chandigarh, said that

the evidence placed by the plaintiff was unchallenged as the defendant wife had not appeared in the court. It relied on a judgment passed by the Supreme Court in a case that marriages solemnised in India under Indian laws could not be dissolved by foreign courts. In the present case the divorce decree violates Indian public policy because it undermines the sanctity of marriage, which is protective under Indian law, it said and added that the foreign decree would have no legal effect in India.