India’s Ambassador to Cuba T. Armstrong Changsan has landed in an unsavoury controversy over an allegation of having two wives.An Indian Foreign Service (IFS) of the 1997 batch, Changsan was a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs before being appointed as the Ambassador of India to the Republic of Cuba in March 2024.The IFS officer, who belongs to the Kuki tribe, got married in 1994 in a church under the Christian Marriage Act, 1872. The couple has a daughter from the marriage. However, the marriage was dissolved by village elders in Dima Hasao district of Assam following customary practices and he proceeded to remarry. He has a daughter from the second marriage as well.The Gauhati High Court in 2022 held that the dissolution of his first marriage was not valid. A marriage conducted in a church under the Christian Marriage Act, 1872, between a man and a woman can only be dissolved in terms of provisions of the Divorce Act, 1869, through legal proceedings before a court, the high court ruled.Faced with the bigamous situation created by the Gauhati High Court’ ruling, the IFS has moved the Supreme Court.Taking note of the fact that Changsan has been married to his second wife for almost 15 years, a Bench headed by Justice Surya Kant last week attempted to find a way out after failure of mediation even as it didn’t find any fault with the Gauhati High Court verdict.The first wife requested the top court to “protect her honour and dignity,” saying she has raised her 29-year-old daughter on her own. She also accused the IAF officer of manipulating the daughter.On behalf of Changsan, senior counsel Menaka Guruswamy said the IAF officer has been taking care of expenses of their daughter living in Bengaluru. She said the man has also arranged a house in Delhi for the first wife and paid her Rs 20,000 a month towards maintenance.“We have absolutely no sympathy for the man. The high court judgment is in your (wife’s) favour, and you have suffered socially and mentally,” the Bench said, asking her to think of a way to start her life afresh.Noting that the daughter could have a significant role in any possible settlement, the Bench directed the IAF officer to arrange her flight tickets to Bengaluru to meet their daughter, pay her Rs 3 lakh towards the visit and also arrange her stay.
IFS officer lands in controversy over ‘two wives’; Supreme Court attempts solution
