karthik 14 April 2020

Cheating and bigamy by wife

My wife remarried without divorse and I have her marriage pics and 2nd marriage certificate

Can you let me know if in our indian courts wife got jailed on cheating and bigamy.

if so please share me any judgements of jail term to wife for 2nd marriage without divorse

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6 Replies

Archit Uniyal 14 April 2020

Hi,

Your question is related to bigamy under the Indian Penal Code and Hindu Marriage Act.

The offence of bigamy or marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife is punishable under Section 494 of the Penal Code (S. 494) and under Section 17 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

Bigamy is prohibited under Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code. Section 494 IPC talks about Marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife and states that, whoever in the lifetime of existing husband/wife marries someone else, such marriage by reason of its taking place during the lifetime of such husband or wife, should be considered void and should be punished for such offence. If any person marries more than once during the life of first husband or wife should be punished with imprisonment which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Section 17 of the Hindu Marriage Act lays out the Punishment of bigamy. It says that any marriage between two Hindus solemnized after the commencement of this Act is void if at the date of such marriage either party had a husband or wife living, and the provisions of Sections 494 and 495 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) shall apply accordingly.

For an offence of bigamy to have been committed the following ingredients are required

The Accused must be married
He must have contracted Second Marriage
The first marriage should subsist
The first husband/wife must be alive
Both marriages must have completed necessary ceremonies and must be valid (Priya Bala Ghosh v Suresh Chandra Ghosh)

If all these conditions are satisfied then you can file a case against your wife for bigamy under section 494 IPC.

I hope this solves your query.

Regards,

Archit

SHIRISH PAWAR, 7738990900 (Advocate) 14 April 2020

Dear querist,

You can sent your wife to jail as per case stated by you. To file complaint on the ground of bigamy judgement is not required. In addition to this Bigamy is good ground to get divorce. So you can file divoce application and get the divorce easily.

Regards,