Supreme Court Rejects UK Divorce Decree in Hindu Marriage Case, Keeps Bigamy Proceedings Against Husband

Key facts

• In a case involving a Hindu marriage, the Supreme Court declined to recognise a UK divorce decree based on irretrievable breakdown and refused to quash bigamy and criminal conspiracy proceedings against the husband.
• A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar ruled that the UK decree contravened Indian matrimonial law and failed the requirements of Section 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) for recognition of foreign decrees.
• The court quashed the criminal proceedings against the man's parents and second wife while keeping the case against him alive.
• The complaint invoked Sections 494 and 120B, read with Section 34, of the Indian Penal Code; the court allowed proceedings against the husband to continue despite the second marriage occurring in the UK.