Click the Play button to listen to article

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (November 3) upheld the bigamy proceedings against a man, who performed a second marriage abroad on the strength of a UK divorce decree on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage after obtaining UK citizenship, and a failed attempt to end a marriage in India.

Since the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage is not recognised under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the Court said that a foreign divorce decree would not be enforceable in India as per Section 13 of the CPC to bind a woman, who never submitted herself to the foreign court's jurisdiction, and the marriage having been performed in India.

“…if the foreign decree does not satisfy the requirements of Section 13 of the CPC, whether accused No.1/husband while relying on such a decree contend that his first marriage stood dissolved in the eyes of matrimonial laws of India and, thus, escape the rigours of Section 494 of the IPC, in our view, this cannot be permitted.”, observed a bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Sree Chandrashekhar.

The appellant, husband, moved the Supreme Court challenging the Andhra Pradesh High Court's order dismissing his plea to quash the bigamy proceedings culminated at the behest of his first wife, Respondent No.1, for performing a second marriage in the UK.

Refusing to interfere with the impugned order, the judgment authored by Justice Mishra observed that the foreign court decree of irretrievable breakdown of marriage passed was in derogation of the Indian laws, and thus would not be applicable in India.

“…the foreign divorce decree was passed in contravention of the existing matrimonial law in India and on a ground that is not even recognized statutorily. This not only violates the legal threshold of Section 13 of the CPC, which every foreign decree has to pass through… as to the conditions required to be fulfilled by a foreign decree to be enforceable in India.”, the Court said, citing its recent case of Kishorekumar Mohan Kale v. Kashmira Kale, 2026 LiveLaw (SC) 259.

Husband cannot escape from bigamy proceedings even after securing foreign citizenship and performing second marriage there

“Now coming to the argument of accused No.1/husband that since he was a British citizen when the second marriage with accused No.4/second wife was solemnized and since the second marriage took place outside India, keeping in view the mandate of Section 4 of the IPC, he cannot be held liable. We cannot accept this submission in the manner canvassed as accused No.1/husband was married to respondent No.2/first wife in India under the Hindu rites, rituals and customs, thus, even if the second marriage took place outside India, the allegations under Section 494 of the IPC cannot be said to be diluted since enquiry for the offence of bigamy cannot be confined to the place of second marriage but must necessarily take into account the subsisting matrimonial relationship. Even otherwise, legal consequences flowing from the subsisting marriage cannot be defeated by a subsequent change in the nationality of accused No.1/husband.”, the Court said.

As a result, the appeal was dismissed.

Appearance:

For Petitioner(s) Ms. Nitya Ramakrishnan, Sr. Adv. Ms. Rashmi Nandakumar, AOR Ms. Yashmita Pandey, Adv.

For Respondent(s) Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Mrs. Anjana Prakash, Sr. Adv. Mr. Anuj Prakash, Adv. Mr. Prakhar Sharma, Adv. Ms. Saumya Behki, Adv. Mr. Pradum Kumar, Adv. Mr. Niraj Dubey, Adv. Ms. Anu Gupta, AOR

Tags: