SC rejects plea by Sukanya's estranged husband

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A Bench of Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan, however, in a terse order said it was “keeping open the question of law” to be decided in future cases.

By dismissing the petition, the Supreme Court has cleared the decks for the actress to pursue the divorce petition she had filed against her estranged husband Sridhar in Chennai.
Sukanya was present in the court during the hearing of the case for the past two days. The SC asked the matrimonial court to dispose of the divorce petition within four months as the case has been pending since 2004.

The Bench had earlier issued a notice to Sukanya on Sridhar’s petition challenging the jurisdiction of Indian courts to entertain matrimonial disputes of a couple married on foreign soil.

Sridhar, through counsel K K Mani, contended that Indian courts have no jurisdiction to entertain the divorce suit filed by the actress as their marriage was performed in the United States under the Foreign Marriage Act, 1969.

The petitioner, who is a software engineer, moved the apex court after the matrimonial court and the Madras High Court dismissed his plea challenging the maintainability of the divorce suit filed by Sukanya.

The couple got married in the US on March 17, 2002. The marriage was performed at Balaji Temple in New Jersey as per Hindu rites and customs, the petition claimed. After their relationship soured, Sukanya had filed a divorce suit on March 3, 2004. The matrimonial court issued him summons.