The Bombay High Court in its order dated April 15, 2024, clarified that the location of a marriage reception cannot become the jurisdiction for Family Court, unless the couple resides in the same city.
The High Court was hearing a wife’s plea against a divorce petition filed by her husband at the Bandra Family Court in Mumbai.
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Case:
Parties got married in June 2015 at Jodhpur, Rajasthan according to Hindu rites and rituals. The wedding reception took place after four days in Mumbai. Post the reception, the couple lived in the city for around 10 days at the husband’s parents’ home and then migrated to the United States.
After living together for four years in the US, the couple started living apart since October 2019.
In August 2020, the husband initiated divorce proceedings at the Bandra Family Court in Mumbai, on grounds of cruelty by wife. Subsequently, in December 2020, the 38-year-old wife too, filed for divorce at a local court in the US.
In August 2021, the wife filed a plea before the Bandra Family Court challenging the maintainability of her estranged husband’s divorce petition. According to her petition, the Mumbai Family Court did not have the jurisdiction to adjudicate the divorce petition under Section 19 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
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Submission by Husband
The husband submitted that the jurisdiction for a matrimonial dispute should be regarded as the place where they “last resided together”, in this case, Mumbai at the wife’s matrimonial home.
Argument by Wife
According to the wife’s lawyer, the husband’s divorce petition was not maintainable before the Mumbai court because the actual marriage ceremony was solemnised in Jodhpur. The wife also contended that both parties have been living in the US while the divorce petitions were initiated from both sides and thus, the matter must be rejected by Mumbai Court.
Since the Family Court in Bandra, Mumbai, admitted husband’s divorce plea, the jurisdiction was challenged by the wife in Bombay High Court.
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Bombay High Court
Justice Rajesh Patil agreed with the wife’s arguments and upheld her contention that Mumbai Family Court could not decide the matter in this case. Justice Patil observed:
In my view, there can’t be any doubt that a wedding reception can’t be part of the marriage ritual.
The Bombay High Court added:
In my opinion, in the present proceedings, the last residing together of the couple would be the USA, and it can’t be Mumbai, where the couple briefly stayed for less than 10 days immediately after their marriage. Hence, the Family Court in Mumbai will have no jurisdiction under sub-section (iii) of 19 of the Hindu Marriage Act to entertain the divorce petition.
Accordingly, the matter was ordered in favour of the wife.
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Section 19 in The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
19. Court to which petition shall be presented.-
Every petition under this Act shall be presented to the district court within the local limits of whose ordinary original civil jurisdiction
(i) the marriage was solemnised, or
(ii) the respondent, at the time of the presentation of the petition, resides, or
(iii) the parties to the marriage last resided together, or
(iiia) in case the wife is the petitioner, where she is residing on the date of presentation of the petition, or
(iv) the petitioner is residing at the time of the presentation of the petition, in a case where the respondent is, at that time, residing outside the territories to which this Act extends, or has not been heard of as being alive for a period of seven years or more by those persons who would naturally have heard of him if he were alive
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Voice For Men India Take:
- Ideally, parties must approach local courts where the couple resides/resided together
- It is only practical for local authorities, including the police, to investigate any such matrimonial disputes or alleged domestic violence, since the evidence / witnesses could be examined on ground
- In our opinion, the Bombay High Court has rightly directed the matter to a local court in the US, however, this does not deter the wife to return to India and file a case at a court in Jodhpur, where the marriage ceremony had been solemnised
- There are numerous cases, where NRI wives have lived abroad for multiple years, but they choose to return to India abducting their children without the knowledge of husbands, and then take shelter under the completely lopsided system that allows them the liberty to arm twist their estranged spouses
- This jurisdiction or location advantage is also extended to non-working wives residing in India, who return to their parental home in a different city, and then harass their estranged working husbands to travel thousands of kilometers for years on multiple date after date at courts
- There is nothing like equality in real terms. A wife in a matrimonial dispute is presumed to be the weaker sex by default as per law, and thus, even if the husband has faced domestic abuse and violence himself in his marriage, it is only and only him who has to suffer more in the hope of expecting justice
- Lastly, one may also note that it has taken nearly 3 years for the High Court to only decide on the jurisdiction of Family Court and this gives us an indicator of how contested divorce cases run for decades in our current system
DO WATCH:
Can Wife Backout From Divorce After Receiving Alimony? | Bombay High Court | Voice For Men India
LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW:
Marriage Reception Location Cannot Become Family Court Jurisdiction In Divorce Cases | Bombay High Court
— Voice For Men India (@voiceformenind) April 18, 2024
▪️Marriage: Jodhpur
▪️Reception: Mumbai (lived for 10 days)
▪️Current Home: USA
▪️Husband filed Divorce: Mumbai
▪️HC re-directed matter to US Courthttps://t.co/kokECsH3dM
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