Monday, August 09, 2010

Reforms in Family Law Part 3

Abolition of Polygamy

Before independence, polygamy existed in all the corners of India, whereas it was an offense punishable under Section 494 of IPC, except due to applicability of the customs. In India, law of marriage is governed by the personal laws. The Muslim law restricted it to four marriages at the time, where there was no any restriction under other personal laws. Christian Marriage Act, 1872, Parsis were restricted and made punishable under Section 494 of IPC, by Section 52 of Parsi Marriage Act and Divorce Act, 1936, and Hindus were restricted to one marriage by section 5 of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Similar restriction is imposed by Section 4 of Special Marriage Act, 1954. Presently, this is the big problem indicated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in  Sarala Mudgal's case. It issued some directions to the Government of India to frame Uniform Civil Code under Article 44 of the Constitution. Unfortunately, the Government has not taken any step.

Section 494 of IPC clearly states that Whoever, having a husband or wife living, marries in any case in which such marriage is void by reason of its taking place during the life of such husband or wife, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Exception - This section does not extend to any person whose marriage with such husband or wife has been declare void by a Court of competent jurisdiction, nor to any person who contracts a marriage during the life of a former husband or wife, if such husband or wife, at the time of the subsequent marriage, shall have been continually absent from such person for the space of seven years, and shall not have been heard of by such person as being alive within that time provided the person contracting such subsequent marriage shall, before such marriage takes place, inform the person with whom such marriage is contracted of the real state of facts so far as the same are within his or her knowledge.

9 comments:

  1. The more no. of personal laws, more complex it gets and add to it an exception such as given. A muslim can then stay away from first wife for seven years and live elsewhere and even have four wives there? If yes, how more ridiculous can law get?

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  2. In India, it gets complex due with special laws for each religion. Whats acceptable among Muslim community, its a NO-NO for Hindus.

    At the same time, we cant shun and say lets have one law for all. Religious sentiments and all that!

    Marriage is one step ahead towards strengthening the commitments towards one another. Its all love and trust that matters. Here, marriage bonds families together, so its more of a social need. Arrhghhh...all said and done, law is a law.

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  3. Does that mean that based on the religion followed, the laws on polygamy are different still ??? Is there no common law, to punish polygamy,for all the Indians as a whole ??

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  4. shud really be telling these to my great grandfather and then his ancestors! :( !!

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  5. Good post, Neha. I learned a lot from this post.Thanks:-)

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  6. Time & again I have observed,u r extremely articulate & knowledgeable!

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  7. If I understand correctly, polygamy laws are dictated by the religion,is it?

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  8. I was not aware that the court had requested the Government to frame a uniform civil code. I feel this is the need of the hour coz different laws for different religions make things really complicated. For instance, I had heard that actor Dharmendra converted to Muslim coz he wanted to marry Hema Malini as well as remain married to his first wife. If it's wrong to have more than one partner, then this law should be applicable across all religions.

    I personally believe that polygamy is wrong...not just because it amounts to cheating on ur partner but also the risk of STD is less

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