The Supreme Court has been moved by an Indian woman seeking to block divorce proceedings initiated by her husband before a Family Court in Rhode Island, United States, arguing that the foreign court lacks jurisdiction and that the action violates her fundamental rights under Article 14 and Article 21. The petition puts the spotlight on growing misuse of overseas courts in matrimonial disputes involving Indian citizens.
According to the plea, the marriage was solemnised and registered in Tamil Nadu under Christian rites and is governed solely by Indian matrimonial law. The petitioner contends that she never consented to or participated in the US proceedings and that the divorce case was instituted abroad while she remained domiciled in India.
She alleges the foreign litigation is part of a coercive strategy linked to economic pressure and abandonment, and argues that conventional remedies before Indian family courts are ineffective once a foreign decree is pursued midstream.
Placing reliance on settled Apex Court jurisprudence, particularly Y. Narasimha Rao v. Y. Venkata Lakshmi, the petition asserts that a foreign matrimonial judgment is unenforceable unless the court has jurisdiction under the parties’ personal law and the spouse has voluntarily submitted to it.
The plea characterises the Rhode Island proceedings as “without jurisdiction and constitutionally impermissible,” and seeks a declaration that any decree passed abroad would have no legal effect in India, along with directions to the Union government to ensure protection of her legal rights.
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