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Pavan   27 June 2020

Bigamy and cheating by wife

Sir,

Wife remarried in USA with out giving divorse.I got her 2nd marriage certificate from USA government apostiled.

I filed private complaint but no response from police.They Threatening of filing false cses

Query:Can Jail term be sentenced to women under bigamy and cheating.All are saying no jail to women.

Can you please share me Judgements where girl is sentenced to jail term for bigamy and cheating



Learning

 9 Replies

Dibsha Nanda   27 June 2020

Hello. 

Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code provides for bigamy and is not specific to the male gender. It punishes both the husband and wife for marrying again during the lifetime of the first spouse, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years, with or without fine. You may read more about bigamy in this article: 

https://www.lawyersclubindia.com/articles/is-mens-rea-a-sine-qua-non-to-prove-the-offence-of-bigamy--1307.asp

So, yes you can rightly file a complaint against the woman for committing the offence of bigamy. If your complaint is not getting registered with the police, you may approach the Magistrate's Court directly. 

You may also refer to this thread: https://www.lawyersclubindia.com/forum/details.asp?mod_id=209172&offset=1. It also answers your query.

Also, these are two news pieces where women have been booked on the charge of bigamy:

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/26-yr-old-woman-held-for-bigamy/articleshow/3347116.cms

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/chandigarh/woman-booked-on-charge-of-bigamy-730078

I hope I helped.

Regards

Dibsha

2 Like

Dr J C Vashista (Advocate)     27 June 2020

Collect written and oral evidences and file complaint u/s 200 CrPC before area Magistrate for taking cognizance and punish u/s 494 IPC, wherein police has no jurisdiction/ authority to register complaint/ FIR investigate or proceed.

P. Venu (Advocate)     27 June 2020

Yes, wife is liable for punishment, including imprisonment, if bigamy is proved. However, the proceedings may not be that easy if she is in USA.

Women are exempted from civil imprisonment, not in criminal cases.

1 Like

Sudhir Kumar, Advocate (Advocate)     27 June 2020

(+) it is a valid ground for divorce as well.

P. Venu (Advocate)     27 June 2020

She could be prosecuted if an Indian citizen but question is that obtaining the sanction in terms of the provisions of Section 188 CrPC.

Sudhir Kumar, Advocate (Advocate)     27 June 2020

Originally posted by : OM PRAKASH
Under presumption thatw everything may be favorable to the original querist, but the prime question is that if his wife remains in USA, then how would he seek divorce in Indian court from her and how would he prosecute her for committing adultery.

 

law does not operate on the convenience of accused/defendent.

 

Civil case of divorce can carry on ex-parte undefended by through her lawyer appointed inIndia, after notice is served upon her or by notice through newspaper  (not a first or last case)

 

Criminal case can be intiated and to remain pending till accused be available in India.

 

This is also not the first or last case where S/188 sanction may be processed thoug time cosuming.

karthik   28 June 2020

No Sir she dont have citizenship

Sudhir Kumar, Advocate (Advocate)     28 June 2020

Your reply is not clear.

 

which citizenship she doe snot have.

Pavan   28 June 2020

She is indian went  on h1b visa


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