Can Foreign Courts Dissolve Hindu Marriages?

The Supreme Court has reserved its verdict in a matrimonial dispute involving an Andhra Pradesh couple while raising significant legal questions over the validity of foreign divorce decrees for marriages performed under the Hindu Marriage Act. The case concerns N. Sreedhar Reddy, who married in India in 2003 before moving to the United Kingdom. After his divorce petition was dismissed by an Indian court, he obtained a divorce decree from a court in Cambridge, UK, in 2014 and later remarried. His first wife subsequently filed a criminal case in Andhra Pradesh, alleging bigamy, following which the matter reached the Supreme Court.

During the hearing, the bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice S. Chandrasekhar observed that marriages solemnised under the Hindu Marriage Act can be dissolved only in accordance with the provisions of that law. The court questioned whether Indian women should be left without legal protection if spouses secure divorces from foreign courts and remarry abroad. While Sreedhar Reddy's counsel argued that the UK court's decree should be recognised and expressed willingness for mediation, the wife rejected mediation, stating that she wanted her husband back and was not seeking financial compensation. The Supreme Court has reserved its judgment.