Matrimonial court prevails

A Surat Parsi matrimonial court has ruled that a couple married in Ahmedabad but residing in USA cannot file for divorce in the country of their residence.
"The US court in Vermont holds no jurisdiction,” said judge Gita Gopi who presides as the special Parsi matrimonial court judge in Surat, according to a report in The Times of India (TOI) of April 27, 2018. All Parsi marriages solemnized under Indian law [Parsi Marriage and Divorce (PMD) Act] can be dissolved only by a special Parsi matrimonial court, ruled the judge, according to TOI. "The 23-page order said that even if the wife wins in Vermont, the decree would not be executable in India ‘and if she remarries, maybe a non-Parsi, she would still be subjected to an offence of bigamy.’ The husband would too.”
The judge held that according to the provisions of the PMD Act, "change of domicile has no applicability in Parsi marriage. ‘Irrespective of domicile, the marriage has to be severed lawfully by a divorce decree under a court set up under the PMD Act. The court of Vermont, USA, is not the court set up under the PMD Act and this Act does not extend to the Vermont court.’
"The husband (52) from Carmichael Road in Bombay, who also lives in Vermont, filed for divorce before a special court in Surat… He challenged the jurisdiction of a Superior Court in the state of Vermont. His wife (48), also an Indian Parsi, lives there with the couple’s two minor children aged 12 and 14; the older child is a US citizen,” according to the TOI. The TOI report stated that she alleged cruelty as a grounds for divorce.
"Through his lawyers A. Daver and M. S. Bodhanwalla, the husband sought what is known as an anti-suit injunction against his wife till his petition was finally decided in India. The wife, through her lawyer S. P. Nanavati, contested the Surat court’s jurisdiction...
"The husband had contended before the US court that since they were married in India according to Parsi Zoroastrian ceremonies, only the Parsi matrimonial court would have exclusive jurisdiction. His counsel said since their marriage was solemnized in Ahmedabad, the Parsi matrimonial court in Surat has exclusive jurisdiction... Her reply was that since ‘both are permanent residents of USA’ and ‘domiciled’ in Vermont after their marriage, the American court does have territorial jurisdiction and had rightly rejected her husband’s plea for dismissal of her suit in March. Her lawyer said the existing green card and a new business started by her husband show a clear intent to make Vermont his permanent home and hence domicile.