January 24, 13

NEWS / Indian man forged divorce decree by bringing fake wife before judge – court ruling

The Supreme Court of India has upheld and more than doubled a huge fine imposed on an Indian man who had obtained his divorce decree by bringing in an imposter wife and forging signatures for his better half.

The man, an executive for a multinational company, applied for a divorce by mutual consent in 2008 with the help of a counsel, who is nowhere to be found now. He apparently forged his wife’s signatures on both the petitions and the affidavits, and brought in a woman, ostensibly his wife, before the judge. The two signed a divorce decree and their divorce was ratified.

The man went on to marry another woman, while his real wife, a teacher for a private school, appears to have been completely oblivious to the fact that she was now a divorcée. When she finally uncovered the truth, she filed a petition with the Delhi High Court, stating that she had been entirely unaware of the proceeding and that she had never appeared before a judge to sign the divorce decree.

The case was moved to a trial court, which established that the husband did indeed forge his own divorce. The court then annulled his divorce decree.

However, the man decided to challenge the trial court’s decision in the High Court. The High Court threw out his plea, and noted 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 man also received a fine of 200,000 Indian Rupees (approximately US$3700).

The man then decided to challenge both rulings in India’s Supreme Court. But such a move cost him dear, as the Supreme Court imposed an additional fine of 500,000 Indian Rupees (approximately US$9300) for filing a “frivolous” petition.

“You played a fraud not just upon your wife but also the institution of judiciary,” the Supreme Court’s bench stated, as quoted by The Indian Express. “The findings are clear that the wife was never produced before the court. Analysis of records of the case and documents make it clear that there is no warrant to interfere with the concurrent orders of the two courts.”

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