NRI woman faces contempt for defying Supreme court’s settlement agreement

An NRI woman, who moved a US court seeking to restrain India’s Supreme Court from proceeding with a matrimonial dispute, is now facing contempt proceedings from the apex court. This follows her earlier agreement with the Supreme Court to settle the dispute with her former husband. The top court  has issued a notice to her, asking her to explain why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against her.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and A G Masih expressed concern over her conduct, which was deemed highly contemptuous after her ex-husband brought the court’s attention to her plea filed in a US court, which appeared to challenge the SC’s authority.

In the case, both the husband and wife had previously agreed before the Supreme Court to settle their matrimonial dispute, with the wife receiving a one-time maintenance amount of Rs 1 crore for herself and their son, who is now an adult. However, after returning to the US, she filed a new case seeking an enhancement of the maintenance amount. In response, the husband, through his lawyer Prabhjit Jauhat, moved the Supreme Court, seeking a direction for his ex-wife to withdraw the proceedings filed in the US court. However, the wife subsequently filed an application before the US court seeking an injunction to block the SC proceedings.