Marilyn Stowe Blog

Indian Supreme Court upholds fine for man who faked divorce

The Supreme Court of India has upheld a hefty fine imposed on a Delhi man who persuaded another woman to impersonate his wife in divorce proceedings.

The man applied for a divorce by mutual consent in April 2008 via an advocate who could not subsequently be traced. The divorce was ratified after the man and the unnamed woman appeared before a judge and signed the divorce decree.

The man, who works as an executive for a multinational corporation, then went on to marry someone else. When his original wife, a teacher at private school, discovered the scheme some months later, she filed a petition with the Delhi High Court saying she had been entirely unaware of the proceeding and had not appeared in court with the man.

The court cancelled the divorce decree and but the man challenged this decision. The High Court dismissed his plea, telling the husband that he had “resorted to fraudulent practice by forging the signatures of the wife on both the petitions and affidavits, bringing an impostor before the court and producing a fake advocate to achieve his sinister design of obtaining a fast decree of divorce so that he could marry some other lady.”

The court also imposed a fine of 200,000 rupees. The husband appealed to the Supreme Court but his appeal was briskly dismissed earlier this week. Justice GS Singhvi told him:

“You played a fraud not just upon your wife but also the institution of judiciary. The findings are clear that the wife was never produced before the court.”

According to a report on Indian Express, the Supreme Court imposed an additional fine of 500,00 rupees for filing a “frivolous” petition.

The couple were married for six years and have one son.

Photo of the Supreme Court of India by Legaleagle86 via Wikipedia under a Creative Commons licence