NO LEGAL CLAIM

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 63, 11 September 1924, Page 5

NO LEGAL CLAIM

A WHITE MAHARANEE

MARRIAGE AFTER FRAUDULENT "DIVORCE.

(UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION.—COPTRIGHT.) , (SYDNEY SUN CAULE.) ■ DELHI, 9th September. An action ■ for maintenance brought by the -Maharanee of Tikari against her husband, the Rajah of Tikari, a young Indian nobleman of Bengal, has been dismissed. _■•:■■ The plaintiff was an Australian girl named Elsie Sitwell, whose stage name was ' Elsie Forrest. She visited India, iifi 1904, .in' company with her husband, as members of a theatrical company. Later the couple were divorced. Elsie -returned to India,, adopted Hinduism, and married the Rajah of Tikari. The case hinged on a claim for an annuity ■under a deed.of gift alleged to have been made by tho Rajah. . „ The- Judge, in dismissing the claim, declared' that the marriage with the Rajah of Tikari was illegal, because ,• the plaintiff's conversion to Hinduism 'was not according to Hindu, law, also because ihe divorce obtained from her former husband was fraudulent and'without'the jurisdiction.;' .■ho Court. The Rajah is now "claimii.^ ;o recovery of tho Tikari family jewels from the plaintiff.. • In 1918 the, Maharanee paid a visit to Australia,, where, dressing in Oriental splendour/and entertaining lavishly, she created a considerable sensation. "■ ;■