Source:- thehindu.com Canon law and decrees of divorce given by ecclesiastical tribunals or ‘Church Courts’ cannot veto the statutory law of divorce, the Supreme Court said on Thursday. Thus saying, a Bench of Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud disposed of a writ petition filed in 2013 seeking a judicial declaration that divorce decrees passed by ecclesiastical tribunals are valid and binding. 1996 verdict The Supreme Court referred to its 1996 judgment in the case of Molly Joseph versus George Sebastian upholding the binding nature of the Indian Divorce Act of 1869, which governs divorce among Christians. In Molly’s case, the court said the implication of the Canon law is confined to either theological or ecclesiastical, but has no legal impact on the divorce or annulment of marriage between two persons professing the Christian religion. “After the Divorce Act came into force, a dissolution or annulment under such personal law cannot have any ...