India's ambassador to Cuba ends up with 2 wives, SC seeks solution
The Gauhati HC had said once a marriage takes place in a church in terms with the Christian Marriage Act, 1872, it cannot be annulled by customary law practices involving village elders.
Such a marriage can only be dissolved through proceedings initiated before the HC or the district judge as per section 10 of the Divorce Act, 1869, it had said.
This HC ruling landed the Indian ambassador to Cuba, Thongkomang Armstrong Changsan, in a piquant matrimonial situation as he ended up with two wives. Prior to the HC declaring in 2022 that his 1994 church marriage with Neikhol Changsan subsisted, he had married another woman after the customary divorce.
From both marriages, he has a daughter each.
SC says it has no sympathy for Cuba envoy
After failure of the mediation ordered by the Supreme Court, during pendency of Changsan's appeal, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi on Friday orally observed that the HC judgment is legally sound. Finding that the Indian Foreign Service officer is now married for nearly a decade and half, it decided to find a solution to this legal-matrimonial complexity and help the first wife start a new life.
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The ambassador said he has been paying a monthly maintenance of Rs 20,000 to Neikhol and has given her a house in Delhi.
Neikhol argued the case herself and told the court that she had single handedly brought up her daughter without any participation from her husband.
He manipulatively estranged her from daughter, says 1st wife
Neikhol, the first wife, alleged that he has now manipulatively estranged her daughter (29) from her. For the ambassador, senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy said the father had been meeting the expenses of his daughter, who is pursuing a career in Bengaluru.
Neikhol appealed to SC to "protect her honour and dignity" while describing how surreptitiously Changsan dissolved the marriage using tribal community elders, and remarried. The Justice Kant-led bench said, "We have absolutely no sympathy for the man. The HC judgment is in your favour, and you have suffered socially and mentally. But can you think of a way to start life afresh?"
Interestingly, 'Kuki Inpi' of Assam, the highest governing body of the Kuki tribe in the state, has said Kuki customary law can neither dissolve a Christian marriage performed in church nor can it force any couple to reunite against the will of the couple.
SC said it could be profitable for Neikhol to meet her daughter and discuss future course of action, and asked the ambassador to arrange for her flight tickets to Bengaluru, a place of stay near her daughter's place, and pay her an ad hoc amount of Rs 3 lakh to enable her to meet her daughter.
"If at all there is a possibility of settlement, the daughter could have a significant role to play," Justice Kant said, adding that the IFS officer must advise his daughter to re-establish contact with her mother.
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