Judge rules in Hasidic woman’s favour over divorce from abusive husband

An Israeli Hasidic Jew who lived in London after taking part in an arranged marriage complained that she went hungry because her husband gave her a “minuscule” amount of money to buy food, a family court judge has heard.

The woman said her British husband – also a Hasidic Jew – would not allow her to meet Israeli girlfriends and had sexually harassed her “many times”, Judge Rachel Karp was told.

She said she had been “deeply unhappy” from the start and had left her husband less than a year after marrying.

Detail of the case has emerged in a ruling by the judge following a family court hearing in London.

The woman had outlined complaints about the way she had been treated to staff during a hospital visit.

Judge Karp said the man and the woman were both strictly Orthodox Jews of the Satmar Hasidic sect who had been introduced to each other with a “view to an arranged marriage” in accordance with their customary practice.

She had been asked to make rulings on the status of the marriage.

The man obtained divorce decrees after saying his wife had “gone to live in South America” and he did not know where she was.

Judge Karp said that what the man had claimed was untrue, the decrees had been wrongly obtained and he had made a “deliberate” attempt to mislead.

The woman had asked for the decrees to be rescinded so she could “control” the issue of divorce proceedings.

Judge Karp ruled in her favour. 

She said the divorce decrees should be dismissed and indicated that police and prosecutors should read her ruling.

The man had denied procuring a divorce decree “by fraud”.