Madras High Court restrains U.S. citizen from proceeding with divorce plea filed in Washington

The Madras High Court has restrained an American citizen from proceeding with a divorce case filed by her before the King County Superior Court in Washington, United States, and also from initiating any kind of legal proceedings related to her marriage before the courts in Singapore.

The Madras High Court has restrained an American citizen from proceeding with a divorce case filed by her before the King County Superior Court in Washington, United States, and also from initiating any kind of legal proceedings related to her marriage before the courts in Singapore.

Justice V. Lakshminarayanan granted the anti-suit injunction after agreeing with her husband, an Indian citizen, that the Family Court in Chennai would be the right forum to decide on the matrimonial dispute between the couple, who got married in 2013 under the Special Marriage Act of 1954.

After their wedding, the couple had relocated to the United States and had a child in 2016. In 2023, they relocated to Singapore and in 2024, the woman lodged a complaint accusing her husband of assault. Shortly thereafter, he flew down to India and sought divorce on the grounds of cruelty and adultery.

The woman was made one of the respondents to the divorce petition filed before the Family Court in Chennai on September 4, 2024. On September 6, 2024, she too filed a divorce petition before the Washington court though she was residing with her child in Singapore then.

An e-mail written by her to the American Citizen Services at the U.S. embassy in Singapore, seeking a passport for her child, referred to the divorce petition filed by her estranged husband in Chennai and stated that “she needs to submit herself before the courts in India” in order to prevent an ex parte order, the judge pointed out.

On the contrary, she flew to San Francisco with the child on October 14, 2024, just a day before the husband could obtain an injunction order from a court in Singapore restraining her from moving the child outside Singapore. After flying to the U.S., she began pursuing her divorce plea filed in Washington.

The husband then moved an anti-suit injunction application before the Family Court in Chennai. When no orders were passed on that application, he filed a civil revision petition before the High Court seeking a direction to the Family Court to dispose of his divorce plea within six months.