Married a srilankan guy - What is procedure to get diverce
Bavani
(Querist) 21 December 2010
This query is : Resolved
Dear experts,
4 years back i got married a srilankan guy. After a month i came to know his real habits. He is from srilanka iam from chennai. Then i went to srilanka to live with my husband. i realised very bad experiance in srilanka. There parants took my all jewels,money send back to chennai. Mean time i have one kid. Last 2 years i have no contact with him. Even i dont know where is he.
2 Years back he came to chennai he started fighting with my parents so we went to police. in police station he write in hand writing he is not going to disturb in the future
I want to apply for diverse what i have to do? . What is procedure to do ? How long will take to get? where should i go to apply in chennai ?
Both of us from hindu. Marriage in temple & registed in chennai. After marriage we stay in chennai for 2 months then we went to srilanka stay for 6 months. After that i dont know where is he but not in india
ashish lal
(Expert) 21 December 2010
what is your religion? to which religion the boy belongs? according to which religion's rites and ceremonies your marriage was performed? Whether you lived together in India at any moment of time?
A V Vishal
(Expert) 21 December 2010
The Madras High Court has given a ruling that would save the sufferings of several wives who find it difficult fighting matrimonial cases against their husbands living in foreign countries.
The Madras High court held Indian courts have jurisdiction to take up matrimonial proceedings involving two Hindus governed by the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) even in cases where the opposite party is a foreign national having his domicile outside India.
A Division Bench headed by Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and K.K. Sasidharan, dismissing an appeal against a single Judge’s order, in its judgment said when a wife was given the right to initiate proceedings before the local District Court where she was actually residing, such a provision could not be defeated by taking a technical plea that no such proceedings would lie on account of foreign citizenship of the husband or his domicile in another country.
The judges were passing orders on a case involving film actor R Sukanya and her husband R Sridharan, who is an American citizen. They got married in April 17, 2002 as per Hindu rites and customs at Balaji temple in New Jersey in the US. After nearly a year she returned to India, for completing her dance programme. Later, she started to act in films with no plans of returning to the US. She also filed a divorce petition in 2004 before the Principal Family Court, Chennai, on grounds of cruelty.
Sridharan was not aware of the proceedings. He did not attend the proceedings, the family court granted her divorce ex parte in July 2004. After he took steps, the Family Court set aside its order. On his appearance, he filed the counter.
In the meanwhile, Sridharan filed a petition before the Madras High Court seeking a writ of prohibition contending that the Family Court, Chennai, had no jurisdiction to entertain the divorce proceedings as he was a US citizen. The court in India had no jurisdiction.
The actor countered that the marriage was solemnized with Hindu rites and customs. Hence, the rights and obligations of the parties ran from the HMA.
A single Judge said the court in India exercising jurisdiction under the HMA had jurisdiction to entertain the divorce petition irrespective of the present residence of the opposite party. He dismissed the writ petition. Hence, the present appeal.
The Bench said that earlier under section 19 HMA (court to which petition shall be presented) it was not possible for a woman to initiate proceedings before the court in whose jurisdiction she was residing. Because of this, serious prejudice was caused to women.
Following an amendment, the wife was now entitled to file a matrimonial petition before the District Court in whose jurisdiction she was residing.
The legislation had to be given an extended coverage even outside the territory to which it ran. When the parties were governed by the HMA, the jurisdiction and the grounds for annulling the marriage should be as provided under the Act.
The domicile or citizenship of the opposite party was immaterial in a case like this. It was the wife’s residence which determined the question of jurisdiction in case the proceedings were initiated at her instance, the Bench said.
As the divorce petition was pending before the Family Court since 2004, the Bench requested the lower court to decide the petition as expeditiously as possible, in any case within two months.
So going by the above Judgement of the Hon'ble Chennai HC, you can file your divorce at Chennai Family Courts. You need to appoint a good counsel to fight your case.
Advocate Bhartesh goyal
(Expert) 21 December 2010
You can file divorce petition before Family Court Chennai as suggested by Mr.Vishal.
s.subramanian
(Expert) 21 December 2010
Absolutely right Mr.Vishal. That is a very good and detailed judgment on the subject.
