In a curious verdict, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday refused to accept the judgment issued by a US court dissolving the marriage of an Indian couple. The court found that the US court order granting divorce to the couple was inconclusive.
A Division Bench, comprising Justice Antony Dominic and Justice P D Rajan, dismissed a plea filed by Thiruvananthapuram native Lakshmi Priya Sheshan, who is settled in California, US, challenging the order of Thiruvananthapuram family court.
The family court had dismissed a petition by Lakshmi seeking to declare the order of Yolo Superior Court is valid. Lakshmi had married Shankar Guhadas, of California, on February 1, 2008, at a marriage function held in Thiruvananthapuram. The petitioner contended that immediately after the marriage due to incompatibility of temperament, they could not live together.
The duo decided to part and moved the Yolo Superior Court, which on October 26, 2009, granted them divorce. According to the petitioner, now she would like to remarry, but the groom’s family has demanded a legal order from the Thiruvananthapuram family court validating the divorce order passed by the US court.
The petitioner soon moved the family court but it dismissed the plea.
The High Court upheld the family court order stating that a foreign court’s judgment which would not state reasons for the conclusion is not a judgment at all.